Guest views are now limited to 12 pages. If you get an "Error" message, just sign in! If you need to create an account, click here.

Jump to content
  • CRYPTO REWARDS!

    Full endorsement on this opportunity - but it's limited, so get in while you can!

Kobani Incoming Recent Breaking News Updates


Recommended Posts

Just to be clear on the USAF drop.... (as there is information that could be conflicting, but its not)... It was 28 Parachutes 1 landed outside YPG territory destroyed by USAF other 27 landed in KIBANI 4 landed SouthWest 12 North 11 inside city...

The stuff ISIS is showing is the US arms they captured long before this...

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just got back onto DV. Will have to work on summary of past few days. Some of the most intense battling over Kobane has happened in in the last few days. IS is pounding the city and there are reports that they have surface to air missiles... and some have reported seeing one of them fired..... ISIS is being constantly replenished with more troops, last time approximately 200 guys entered, and the time before that, about 400. At the same time ISIS President Erdogan of Turkey who told the world that he would allow Peshmerga to cross over Turkish borders... has lied once again and they sit waiting on the border for the word to go.... I'll sift through the more pithy articles, in the meantime... here is the most current public update I can find:

 

   
Uncertainty surrounds Peshmerga deployment to Kobane13 hours ago
75595Image1.jpg
Peshmerga await deployment to Kobane
By Jonathon Burch in Istanbul and Alexander Whitcomb in Erbil
 
ISTANBUL/ERBIL - The Kurdistan Region is awaiting word from Turkey to deploy its Peshmerga troops to the besieged city of Kobane, senior officials told Rudaw on Monday.
 
While a small unit of Peshmerga forces is ready to cross to Syria, the presidential office of the Kurdistan Regional Government has said they “don’t yet have an answer from the Turkish side,” but it did not clarify what issues were under discussion.
 
Peshmerga Minister Mustafa Said Qadir confirmed the holdup, telling reporters: "We are awaiting the stance of the state of Turkey, and because of this we have not sent any forces.”
 
A Syrian Kurdish leader, whose forces are battling jihadist militants in the town of Kobane, rebuffed comments by the Turkish president on Monday that he had opposed Peshmerga reinforcements from Iraqi Kurdistan, saying they were ready to deploy but for reasons unknown to him had not yet arrived.
 
Salih Muslim, co-chair of Syria's largest Kurdish faction, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), told Turkey's CNN Turk television channel he did not believe the Peshmerga would try to take over from his fighters defending the town and accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of meddling.
 
Muslim's comments were the latest in a war of words between the PYD and Ankara, following Turkey's announcement last week it would open a corridor through its territory for Peshmerga to enter Kobane. Fighters from the PYD's militant wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), have been resisting an onslaught by Islamic State (ISIS) militants there for more than a month.
 
Since the announcement, there have been conflicting reports on how many Peshmerga fighters would be sent and their arrival has been beset by delays, prompting speculation that the deal may have even been called off.
 
“This is not about us,” Muslim said when asked about allegations the PYD was against the arrival of the Peshmerga. “The Peshmerga have been ready for two or three days but we don't know why they haven't crossed,” he said.
 
“We have no concerns that the Peshmerga will take control in Kobane. They are going to come and help. They have no intention of taking over anyway. This is Kurdish solidarity,” Muslim said.
 
In comments reported on Sunday by Turkish media, Erdogan said the PYD did not want the Peshmerga in Kobane out of fear they would overshadow their own fighters. Last week, the Turkish leader said there had also been resistance from the PYD over the number of Peshmerga to be deployed, saying the figure had now been reduced to 150 fighters.
 
“This is not in the hands of Erdogan. Why is he giving a figure? Our people have already reached an agreement, why is he interfering this much?” CNN Turk reported Muslim as saying.
 
“Is everything going to be ordered by him? The YPG and the Peshmerga command come to an agreement amongst themselves. In the first phase, it is said to be 150-200 [Peshmerga],” he said.
 
Turkey has come under increasing international pressure to act over Kobane. The United States has airdropped weapons and supplies to the YPG in Kobane and together with other allies has been carrying out air strikes on ISIS in and around the town. But apart from taking in some 200,000 refugees from the area and treating wounded fighters, Turkey has been reluctant to do more.
 
The disagreements appear to be born largely out of a relationship of deep mistrust. Turkey views the PYD as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a 30-year war against the Turkish state, and which it classifies as a terrorist organisation. Erdogan has also repeatedly likened the PYD to ISIS, angering Kurds on both sides of the border.
 
Ankara is reluctant to help the PYD out of fear it will strengthen the PKK and is also wary of causing a nationalist backlash within Turkey. Turkey launched a peace process with the PKK two years ago, however, its reaction to Kobane has threatened to derail those negotiations.
 
Tensions escalated over the weekend after PKK militants killed three Turkish soldiers in the southeast in retaliation for the death of some of its own fighters at the hands of the military. Deadly riots in several Kurdish cities earlier this month caused by events in Kobane have also added to the unrest.
 
Meanwhile on Monday the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced that 815 people had died in the fight for Kobane, including 21 civilians and 302 YPG fighters.  According to their information, 481 ISIS militants have been killed in the area since mid-September.
  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is the latest video that Syrian people ask be released to the world as evidence that Turkish military and ISIS are openly coordinating against Kobane.... In this video they are robbing the cars left on the Turkish border of Kobani citizens that were not allowed to bring them into Turkey... Not sure if its obvious, but the person posting this video is fairly close to the action .

A very clear evidence that the Turkish army is coordinating with ISIS terrorists

 

 

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is the video everyone is talking about..... released today... featuring kidnapped reporter Jhon Cantile. This is pure propaganda though does give a good example of IS ability to edit film and use the internet. People from Kobane and others familiar with it, along with several analysts say that it was not shot on the day claimed (it was raining that day) and the reporter is not standing where he says he was, and the last part of the video is not even of Kobane.. and etc etc technical contrasts to what is claimed. At one point someone claimed it was the use of green screen, however most agree it was shot somewhere, some time ago (flag shown was blown up long ago) on the edge of Kobane.

 

Again.... THIS IS NOT TRUE and is nothing more than a good example of IS propaganda.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxvfc8fQ_fA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Iran accuses Turkey of prolonging civil war in Syria

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/28/us-mideast-crisis-iran-idUSKBN0IH1B120141028

 

ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran accused Turkey on Tuesday of prolonging the three-year conflict in neighboring Syria by insisting on President Bashar al-Assad's overthrow and supporting "terrorist groups" in Syria, the official IRNA news agency reported.

 

Tehran and Ankara back opposing sides in the civil war, which pits rebel forces including radical Sunni Muslim fighters from the Islamic State against Assad, Tehran's closest regional ally.

 

Turkey, which has called for Assad to step down, has been a main transit point for foreign militants crossing into Syria to fight his forces, while Iran has supported him both militarily and politically.

 

 "Ankara’s interference in Syrian internal affairs has unfortunately resulted in prolonging the war and extensive deaths of innocent Syrian civilians," Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted a senior Foreign Ministry official as saying.

 

"The crisis in Syria could have ended three years ago if Turkish officials stopped demanding regime change and supporting terrorist groups in Syria," the official said.

 

 The comments appeared to be a response to remarks by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who was quoted by Turkish media on Monday accusing Iran of playing on Syria's sectarian divisions.

 

 "When we have bilateral meetings with Iran, they agree on solving this issue together. When it comes to action, unfortunately, they have their own way of working," Erdogan was quoted by the Hurriyet newspaper as saying.

 

The Syrian conflict has undermined what were once close ties between Iranian officials and Erdogan, whose Syria policy has put him at odds with Iran, Russia and, at times, the United States.

 

 NATO-member Turkey has refused to join the U.S.-led military coalition against the Islamic State unless it also confronts Assad, a demand that Washington, which flies air missions over Syria without objection from Damascus, has so far rejected.

 

 Iran and the United States have been arch-foes for decades but now share a strategic interest in reversing the territorial gains of IS that threaten to redraw the map of the Middle East.

 

 The military gains by Islamic State fighters challenge Tehran’s strategy of projecting power from the Gulf to the Mediterranean through its mainly Shi'ite allies in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon

.

 Tehran has blamed the West for the rise of Islamic State, which controls swathes of Syria and Iraq, but also suggested the need for common action in confronting the group.

 (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Dominic Evans

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks TD....looks like everyone is drawing lines in the sand...and the lines are looking like a spider web...This one likes that one for this but doesn't like them for that and on and on....

 

Meantime, Youtube is committed to taking down any IS propaganda  as its identified...That's what happened in the above.... And IS puts if up again... I'll try one more time on the link they just put up,....only because its a good representation of how good they are at manipulating media....

 

 

Again.... THIS IS NOT TRUE It is IS propaganda......

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8XzZy0TVRk&feature=youtu.be


Meantime, has anyone seen on US News that Turkish National Party Chairman said :"My God give strength to ISIL ISIS and  kill all the  Peshmerga"...and if not....why are they not reporting this stuff....amazing.

 

 

 

 

IN other news, US Military vets are going to Kobane to fight with YPG..


image1414506392-27563-PlaceID-0_s1000x65
       

Last updated: October 28, 2014

Western "comrades" join Kurds, Arabs, secularists, Yezidis, and Syriac Christians against Islamic State

icon_banner.pngWar in Syria The Kurdish fight in Syria slowly turns international on the ground as an unprecedented number of foreign volunteers join the pro-Kurdish militias to fight against the Islamic State (IS) jihadists.

The most widely reported cases include 43-year-old US air force veteran Brian Wilson and 28-year-old ex-US Marine Jordan Matson.

According to local sources inside Syria's Kurdish "Rojava" region, however, 10 American citizens as well as hundreds of non-Kurdish volunteers comprising Syrian Arabs, Turkish citizens and Europeans have already joined the People's Protection Units (YPG) fighting against IS jihadists.

"I give no figures, but there is a considerable number of Westerners fighting in the ranks of the YPG as well as European women comrades who’ve joined the Women Protection Units (YPJ). There are many Turkish comrades too," said 28-year-old Kristopher Nicholaidis, who left Greece and joined YPG in Syria five months ago.

NICHOLAIDIS WAS AN ACTIVE local artist back in Greece where he used his art and politics to defend migrants, including Muslims.

"There is a considerable number of Westerners fighting in the ranks of the YPG"

"I come from a political family and I am a democratic socialist. I used my art and politics to defend the Muslim community from attacks initiated by fascists of the Golden Dawn party, but I consider IS jihadists as 21st century fascists posing a greater global threat as they barbarically spread Islamofascism on an international level," he said. "I believe that the YPG is therefore leading the greatest anti-fascist struggle of our time by fighting against IS jihadists. I joined this struggle to fight against global fascism in defence of democracy and peace in Kurdish Rojava."

Arsalan Celik, 26, studied political science at one of the most prestigious Turkish universities but left and joined the YPG April this year.

"I am not Turkish-Kurdish, I am Turkish from the city of Mersin. I came here because the IS jihadists come from all over the world instigating a war against humanity and my government helps them. I wanted to make a practical stance against IS and YPG was the only democratic militia I found in the region fighting back against these jihadists," he said.

"I have seen many Syrian Muslim Arabs as well as left-wing Turks fighting against IS in the ranks of the YPG and YPJ militias, but we have not made headlines as much as our American comrades," he said light-heartedly, adding, "We fight against IS jihadists to defend the democratic values of this Kurdish-led revolution because only the Kurds are now able to bring peace to Kurdistan, Syria and Turkey."

CELIK IS NO STRANGER for Syria's Kurds as tens of Turkish men and women have joined YPG and YPJ since last year, and some of them have lost their lives.

Serkan Tosun was the first Turkish YPG fighter killed when he fought to repel jihadist attacks to defend the predominantly Kurdish city of Serekaniye (Ras Al-Ain) in September 2013.

30-year-old Nejat Ağırnaslı, a Turkish academic, was killed two weeks ago when he fought in the YPG ranks in defence of the city of Kobane.

 

Zuleikha Muhammad of Rojava Martyrs' Mothers Committee, whose only son joined YPG and was killed last year, said: "The international volunteers are not 'foreigners' as some describe them because we do not consider them as 'foreigners', they are our children and Rojava is their homeland."

femalkurdsfighting.jpg

She said: "We love international volunteers as our own children because they are fighting against IS gunmen to defend us and they are martyred like our sons and daughters to defend Rojava revolutionary cause for people's fraternal relations."

Azad Hussein, YPG captain in the town of Jaz'a, said: "YPG fighters are majority Kurdish but Syrians from different political, religious and ethnic backgrounds also join. There are few foreigners too, that is right." But he declined to give exact figures of the YPG foreign fighters, adding that that YPG selection of foreign volunteers is a "complicated process".  

"We welcome international comrades who are qualified fighters and understand our cause too. However, we reject those wanting to join us just because they are disillusioned with their lives and look for some sort of adventure. The latter also include some European Kurds. We reject those people and we have already turned down many of them at our border bases," Hussein said.

19-YEAR-OLD HERISH ALI, a British-Kurd, said he requested to join the YPG along with five other European Kurds in August but YPG border guards rejected them on the Iraq-Syria border.

"We met the YPG fighters and stayed with them at their Sihela border crossing to Iraqi Kurdistan. They were nice and we thought it was awesome to join them, but they rejected us when we revealed that we are students and we have dual nationalities," Ali said.

"We welcome international comrades who are qualified fighters and understand our cause too"

He added: "We told them that we feel degraded because it was like we are not capable men for this fight, but they kept refusing our arguments and said we should go back to Europe and study. Then, they drove us to the nearby Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga checkpoint where the peshmergas too rejected taking us as volunteers."  

Some left-wing writers in the West have begun to compare YPG and YPJ militias in Syria to the International Brigade and POUM militia that operated during the 1936 Spanish civil war, but this is not how the YPG perceives itself.

"We are not communists nor do we call for a separatist Kurdish nation-state. We are democrats advocating the third way in Syria based on the Democratic Con-federalism philosophy of Abdullah Ocalan. The YPG is a people's militia and people are free to advocate any ideology," said Bahoz Berxwedan, one of the YPG commanders who run political education lectures in the Al-Hasakah province.

"Any freedom-loving democrat in this world can join us regardless of their religion, ethnicity, and ideology, as long as they accept our main principles of gender equality, peaceful coexistence and self-rule autonomy for all communities,” he explained. “This is why YPG fighters include Kurds and Arab Muslims, secularists, Yezidis, Syriac Christians and some American and European comrades too."

Edited by Rayzur
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No direct combat for Iraqi Kurds in Kobani, ISIS loses ground in Iraq

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/27/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-idUSKCN0IE0I820141027?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

 

Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdish forces will not engage in ground fighting in the Syrian town of Kobani but provide artillery support for fellow Kurds fending off Islamic State militants there, a Kurdish spokesman said on Sunday.

 

Islamic State fighters have been trying to capture Kobani for over a month, pressing on despite U.S.-led air strikes on their positions and the deaths of hundreds of their fighters.

 

The Kurds prepared to help their comrades in Syria as Iraqi government forces and Shi'ite militias advanced against the al Qaeda offshoot that wants to redraw the map of the Middle East.

 

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence in Syria's three-and-a-half-year-old conflict, said on Sunday it had confirmed that 815 people had been killed in the fighting for Kobani over the last 40 days - more than half of them Islamic State fighters.

 

The Kurdish region's parliament voted last week to deploy some of its peshmerga forces, which have been fighting their own battle against Islamic State in northern Iraq, to Syria.

 

"Primarily, it will be a back-up support with artillery and other weapons," Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) spokesman Safeen Dizayee told Reuters. "It will not be combat troops as such, at this point anyway."

 

Islamic State militants shelled Kobani's border post with Turkey overnight but were repulsed by Kurdish fighters, Kurdish officials and a monitoring group said on Sunday.

 

"Of course they will try again tonight," said Idris Nassan, a local Kurdish official. "Last night they brought new reinforcements, new supplies, and they are pushing hard."

 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was written 28 Oct by the Commander of the troops in Kobane. She is actually there and sends out briefings so that people can get a accurate rendition of what is actually happening there....

 

Since Sept. 15, we, the people of the Syrian town of Kobani, have been fighting, outnumbered and outgunned, against an all-out assault by the army of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

Yet despite a campaign that has intensified in the past month, including the deployment of United States-made tanks and armored vehicles, the Islamic State has not been able to break the resistance of Kobani’s fighters.

We are defending a democratic, secular society of Kurds, Arabs, Muslims and Christians who all face an imminent massacre.

Kobani’s resistance has mobilized our entire society, and many of its leaders, including myself, are women. Those of us on the front lines are well aware of the Islamic State’s treatment of women. We are fighting for women everywhere.

We are thankful to the coalition for its intensified airstrikes against Islamic State positions, which have been instrumental in limiting the ability of our enemies to use tanks and heavy artillery. But we had been fighting without any logistical assistance from the outside world until the limited coalition airdrops of weapons and supplies on Oct. 20. Airdrops of supplies should continue, so that we do not run out of ammunition.

None of that changes the reality that our weapons still cannot match those of the Islamic State.

We will never give up. But we need more than merely rifles and grenades to carry out our own responsibilities and aid the coalition in its war against the jihadist forces. Currently, even when fighters from other Kurdish regions in Northern Syria try to supply us with some of their armored vehicles and antitank missiles, Turkey has not allowed them to do so.

Turkey, a NATO member, should have been an ally in this conflict. It could easily have helped us by allowing access between different Syrian Kurdish areas, so as to let fighters and supplies move back and forth through Turkish territory.

Instead, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has several times publicly equated our fighters, who are defending a diverse and democratic society, with the murderous Islamic State, evidently because of the controversy surrounding Turkey’s Kurdish minority.

Last week, following domestic and international criticism, Turkish leaders at last said they would open a corridor for a small group of Iraqi pesh merga fighters, and some Free Syrian Army brigades, to cross into Kobani. But they still will not allow other Syrian Kurds to cross Turkish territory to reach us. This has been decided without consulting us.

As a result, the Islamic State can bring in endless amounts of new supplies and ammunition, but we are still effectively blockaded on all sides — on three by the Islamic State’s forces, and on the fourth by Turkish tanks. There is evidence that Turkish forces have allowed the Islamic State’s men and equipment to move back and forth across the border. But Syrian Kurdish fighters cannot do the same.

 

The Turkish government is pursuing an anti-Kurdish policy against the Syrian Kurds, and their priority is to suppress the Kurdish freedom movement in Northern Syria. They want Kobani to fall.

 

We have never been hostile to Turkey. We want to see it as a partner, not an enemy, and we believe that it is in the Turkish government’s interest to have a border with the democratic administration of a western Kurdistan rather than one with the Islamic State.

Western governments should increase their pressure on Turkey to open a corridor for Syrian Kurdish forces and their heavy weapons to reach the defenders of Kobani through the border. We believe that such a corridor, and not only the limited transport of other fighters that Turkey has proposed, should be opened under the supervision of the United Nations.

We have proved ourselves to be one of the only effective forces battling the Islamic State in Syria. Whenever we meet them on equal terms, they are always defeated. If we had more weapons and could be joined by more of our fighters from elsewhere in Syria, we would be in a position to strike a deadly blow against the Islamic State, one that we believe would ultimately lead to its dissolution across the region as a whole.

The people of Kobani need the attention and help of the world.

 Narin Afrin, is a commander of the resistance in Kobani.

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Technical Military Term KMA comes to mind.... I'm really not sure why this stuff is not getting more press.... or any press in the US in any MSM... and I think its important for we Americans to know exactly who we are in bed with as a NATO partner, lest there be any confusion down the road when something goes totally sideways.... And BTW Jim1Cor...you are absolutely correct... watch Syria in the coming months as the big guy goes bye bye...... The Brits do have boots on the ground... SAS were the ones to call in the surgical air strikes, and while they may have been an estimated 30K members in IS originally, there are now estimated to be 50K.... as it continues to be the magnet attracting every whacko, insecure, violent guy on the planet.  .

 

Turkey sets conditions for helping West in Kobane crisis in Syria Prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu says he wants to train Free Syrian Army, not Kurdish PKK militants, as peshmerga fighters from Iraqi Kurdistan began their journey towards Kobane
kobane-tuesday_3088350b.jpg
Smoke billowing after a jet fighter hit Kobane on Tuesday Photo: AFP
 

7:24PM GMT 28 Oct 2014

 

Turkey has named its price for co-operation in the West's fight to end the Islamic State's stranglehold on the Syrian border town of Kobane, saying the fight must be led by the Free Syrian Army rather than Kurdish "terrorists".

The country's prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said that any military operation to free Kobane must involve arming regular Syrian rebel groups rather than the Kurdish militants who have so far defended the town. Turkey has refused to help the Kurdish fighters so far, claiming that many of them belong to the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a separatist insurgency against the Turkish state.

"Equip and train the Free Syrian Army so that if the Islamic State leaves, PKK terrorists should not come," Mr Davutoglu said, aiming his comments at the US.

Mr Davutoglu's remarks, made in an interview with the BBC, follow mounting international criticism of Turkey for refusing to intervene in the seige of Kobane, where a small force of lightly-armed Kurdish fighters have spent the last month holding out against heavily-armed Islamic State militants. US air strikes have slowed the Islamic State's advance, but failed to significantly loosen their grip, fuelling calls for Turkey to join the fray. So far, forces from the Turkish army - the second largest in Nato - have simply observed the seige of Kobane from just across the border.

On Tuesday, Mr Davutoglu said that Turkish troops would only be sent into battle if the West committed ground forces into Syria as well, a prospect that Washington and Britain have already ruled out.

 

"If they don't want to send their ground troops, how can they expect Turkey to send Turkish ground troops with the same risks on our border," he told the BBC.

He hinted, though, that Turkish air bases might be used for US-led airstrikes if American jets targeted the forces of the Syria's President Bashar al-Assad as well hitting Islamic State fighters. The US has already asked to use Turkey's air base at Incirlik for the strikes, which would be easier than carrying them out from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, but Turkey has so far refused.

Mr Davutoglu, a noted opponent of Mr Assad, said: "We will help any forces, any coalition, through air bases (within Turkey) or through other means if we have a common understanding to have a new pluralistic, democratic Syria."

peshmerga_3088355c.jpg
A convoy of Kurdish peshmerga directed towards Kobane on Tuesday (Reuters)

As Mr Davutoglu spoke, a column of peshmerga fighters from Iraqi Kurdistan began their journey towards Kobane, where they will act as back-up forces. Bowing to Western pressure, Ankara has reluctantly agreed to let the peshmerga forces go through after receiving assurances that they would seek only to fend off the Islamic State rather than seek any future cause with the PKK.

The 40-vehicle column, carrying 80 fighters and armed with machineguns and artillery, was expected to cross into Turkey last night, Kurdish officials told the AFP news agency. A further 72 fighters were due to fly into Turkey early on Wednesday, also bound for Kobane, where yesterday palls of smoke rose over the town as Islamic State fighters set fire to tyres in a bid to prevent air strikes.

Turkey and the West have become progressively more at loggerheads over how end the Syrian crisis, despite both sides being keen to see the back of President Assad. One of the most powerful countries in the Middle East, Turkey was quick to call for President Assad's overthrow, a move initially hailed by the West as a welcome lead from an Islamic country. But Ankara has since been accused of helping more radical rebel groups to cross the borders into Syria, paving the way for the creation of extremist outfits like the Islamic State.

turkey-prime-minis_3088352c.jpg
Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (AFP)

Mr Davutoglu continued to paint a disdainful picture of Western nations either dithering or lacking the military appetite for a long-term solution to the Syrian crisis. Turkey, he said, "did not want to be part of the game for a few weeks or months just to satisfy American or European public opinion".

He also repeated his call for an internationally-backed no-fly zone over northern Syria, from where moderate rebel groups could operate free from President Assad's jets. America has ruled out such a no-fly zone on the basis that enforcing it would force US jets to directly challenge President Assad's air defence system.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Reported to be the youngest kid fighting in Kobane.... Not from the ME but goes by

Abu Osama Salafi

 

 

 

B1EQpiwCQAA6RIm.jpg

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hope that convoy included some indirect support and maybe some support for counter battery operations.  From what I'm hearing - that could literally be a game changer for the hold out forces in Kobane. Something they can use to counter the artillery and armor that is being used against them.  Air support is fine for columns and consolidated locations, but scattered vehicles and "shoot and scoot" artillery are a different matter unless you have constant on call slow and fast mover support. (hmm - think I let my "inner grunt" out on that one.)

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/free-syrian-army-rebels-join-battle-syrian-city-kobani-n236381

 

Dozens of rebels from the Free Syrian Army joined the battle for Kobani to help Kurdish fighters defend the besieged border town from ISIS, officials and fighters said Wednesday. The Western-backed Free Syrian Army has fought for years to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. Their presence in Kobani underscores how the threat posed by ISIS has blurred lines for Western allies in Syria and the town's importance as a test of the U.S.-led coalition to defeat the Sunni militants.

 

More Kurdish fighters — known as peshmerga — were en route to Kobani on Wednesday. Abu Aziz, who has been fighting alongside peshmerga in Kobani, told NBC News that there were around 330 Free Syrian Army fighters in the town following the arrival of around 90 rebels early Wednesday. He said FSA forces were fighting on the town's western front, while Kurdish fighters battle for the southern and eastern sides of Kobani.

 

Video of the peshmurga convoy on the linked page answered my own question.  I saw at least 1 towed artillery piece, what I think might be some type of anti-tank rocket launcher covered with a tarp (possibley a BOFORS system) and at least 1 - 90m recoilles rifle (which is old tech, but still pretty useful against medium armor).

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank You Rayzur And TankDude.

 

Turkey ‘decides’ for Kobane future: No Kurds, no Assad... Only Free Syrian Army!
28 October 2014
 
ISTANBUL - Turkey wants the anti-Damascus Free Syrian Army (FSA) to control the Syrian border town of Kobane if Islamist jihadists are defeated, and not the forces of separatist Kurds or President Bashar al-Assad, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.

 

In an interview with the BBC broadcast on Tuesday, Davutoglu called for an "integrated strategy" with the United States to equip and train the FSA and oust Assad from power.

 

http://therebel.org

 

 
'Free Syrian Army' militants in Kobani to fight ISIL

Wed Oct 29, 2014 1:58PM GMT
 

Foreign-backed militants from the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) have crossed from Turkey into the Syrian border city of Kobani to join Kurdish forces in their battle against ISIL Takfiri militants.

 

In an interview with the CNN, Colonel Abdul Jabbar al-Oqaidi, an FSA commander, said about 200 members of the group entered Kobani, known in Arabic as Ain al-Arab, early on Wednesday with munitions that comprised mortars and heavy machine guns.

 

"Today, 200 is enough," he said. "But we can send more today if needed."

 

However, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it believed just 50 Free Syrian Army militants have been deployed to Kobani.

 

The so-called Free Syrian Army comprises militants fighting against the Syrian government. They are enjoying the support of the US and its allies mainly Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

 

This is while the ISIL militants have emerged from the insurgents fighting the Syrian government forces since 2011. They have been also backed by the US and its allies.

 

Forces from Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), known as Peshmerga, have not yet crossed into Kobani after the first contingent departed Erbil by air overnight, and landed in Turkey’s southeastern city of Şanlıurfa in the early hours of Wednesday.

 

On October 22, the KRG decided to send Peshmerga fighters to Kobani, two days after Turkey announced that it would allow Iraqi Kurdish forces to cross into Syria to join fellow fighters defending Kobani against ISIL terrorists.

 

Kobani and its surroundings have been under attack since mid-September, with the ISIL militants capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages. More than 800 people have been killed on both sides during the battle for the city.

 

The ISIL advance in the region has forced tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds to flee their homes, mainly into Turkey, which is a stone’s throw from Kobani.

 

 

 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beat Me To It TankDude (More FSA Coming Into Kobani From Turkey)

 

Looks Like The Kurds And FSA Are Fighting ISIS On Two Different Fronts...

Two Seperate Parts Of Kobani.

 

 
Kurds reject Turkey-NATO proposition to fight Damascus
 
Wed Oct 29, 2014 6:49AM GMT
 

Kurdish fighters have refused to fight against the Syrian government in return for Turkish and NATO help to defend the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani against the Takfiri ISIL group, an analyst tells Press TV.

 

“That was the carrot that was dangled in front of their (the Kurds’) nose by [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and NATO that if you join the armed opposition - i.e. the death squad movement - against the Syrian government, then we’ll help you a little bit in Kobani,” said Sukant Chandon, a political commentator, in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday.

 

“The (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) PKK and YPG (a group of Kurdish fighters) have refused that and have refused to go into a military confrontation in line and in harmony with Western strategic interests. And I respect them for that,” he added.

 

The remarks come following Turkey’s recent bombing of positions held by the PKK in the southeast of the country in what the Kurds consider a violation of a ceasefire agreement signed between the PKK and the Turkish government in March 2013.

 

The PKK is a Kurdish organization that was until 2013 involved in an armed militancy against Turkey for Kurdish self-determination.

 

Analysts say the recent bombing of PKK positions by Turkey is in fact “de facto support” for the Takfiri ISIL group, which is launching attacks on the strategic Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani near the border with Turkey.

 

In addition, the United States is leading airstrikes against the ISIL militants near Kobani. The aerial attacks, by a coalition of the US and its allies, began last month, but have largely been ineffective, only serving to slow down the militants’ advance into the city.

 

The United Nations’ envoy to Syria has warned that thousands of people will most likely be massacred if Kobani falls into the hands of the Takfiri ISIL militants.

 

 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly - I've never trusted Turkey as a NATO ally. Not since I was in that part of the world in 2004. I firmly believe the only reason they came into NATO in 1951 was to protect themself from Russian takeover.

 

I Hear You TankDude... They Are Being Pretty Much In Our Face Right Now.

 

Dang... "With Friends Like That...."   Well You Know The Rest...

 

Hoping For The Best For The Kurds In Kobani... Actually I'm Rooting For The Kurds EVERYWHERE...

 

It's Looking Like They Are Going To Have A Lot On Their Plate For Quite A While.

 

God Be With Them... GO KURDS!!!!

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thats what it sounds like to me.

Doesnt seem like the kurds can catch a break. 

 

No Kiddin Dog... We Know They Have A Strong Will And "Right" On Their Side Though... It's Their Home.

 

They Do Not Ever Use The Words "Give Up"... I Really Admire Their Strength And Determination.

 

Just Might Be What Makes All The Difference In The Outcome... That... And Some Better Arms And Ammo. :)

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seems that much of the news is lining up, for the most part... When I reported Pesh was in.... it was their Wednesday, not sure what NBC meant by enroute (or why the spell check always hits on the word "enroute") but they were there. The numbers aren't exactly right.... And FSA has been fighting alongside YPG for over a month... (though I would not trust the crew Erdogan wants to send in and somewhere in some briefing or something I saw where his FSA would go to another front... though that's not confirmed... no idea who would vet FSA members going in... from his country.... that's a sketchy issue)

 

In any event, for more info on YPG/FSA joint mission you will most times see it referred to as "Volcano of the Euphrates". On September 10th, a number of Free Syrian Army (FSA) units and members of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia announced the formation of a joint operations room, Burkan al-Furat (Volcano of the Euphrates) to unite groups fighting ISIS across northern Aleppo and Raqqa provinces. (where they are now) An umbrella coalition of FSA-affiliated outfits called the Dawn of Freedom Brigades and the Raqqa Revolutionaries Brigade — a moderate group driven from Raqqa Province during ISIS advances — stood alongside the YPG fighters in clashes... They are inside Kobani now.

 

And since the US Congress has already voted to support and arm the Syrian opposition, one could argue the authorization already exists to provide technical assistance, covertly and overtly, to the blended forces under the Burkan al-Furat umbrella, composed of Syrian Kurdish militias and elements of the Free Syria Army.

With the establishment of the "Euphrates Volcano" operations center, disparate groups of non-Islamist fighters have declared their intention to liberate Raqqa and Aleppo and cooperate closely at the tactical level.......

 

As a final thought I was arguing against FSA in Kobane and one of the guys on conference call in Kurdistan said that it is very important for the Kurds and FSA to stay united supporting each other, as Turkey is trying to divide them and that Kurds should not fall into Turkey's trap... as it was very important in his words,  for "Arabs and Kurds to work together" Yet once again a lesson about the incredible nuances of the cultures in that region that don't always fit into western frameworks....  . .

 

I think Erdogan likes FSA if for no other reason than they are not YPG who he thinks of as PKK..... However his country is so frickin full of ISIS everywhere, any FSA coming from him would be the human version of a Trojan Horse... I haven't been able to get real exacting info as to which FSA went in... been very focused on a separate piece....

 

And there is also a very coordinated effort to scrub any info (totally including MSM) with much of it dark right now, or at least divergent,  because IS is very tech savvy in monitoring what sometimes seems to be the entire Internet... but definitely news channels...and numbers of troops, types of weapons, capability, who came in where and when etc etc could compromise the potential success of re-taking all of Kobane....

 

And I'm with ya'll in saying Turkey is not a country I ever trusted... at all... And its interesting that the conflict in Kobane is bringing to a head all those past transgressions that we've stepped over or ignored in our 60 year relationship... and revealing our differences to be essentially irreconcilable.....

 

And thanks so much you guys for joining in and bringing more great stuff as we all watch this   amazing event of history in the making.

Edited by Rayzur
  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.