Fightings For Kobani Intensify: Turkey Threatens To Conduct 'Cross-border Operation'

09 October 2014

By Markaz Kavkaz

Clashes between have been intensified between the units of the Ad Dawla al-Islamiyya/Islamic State (IS) and Kurdish militants in southern Syrian city of Kobani (aka Ayn al-Arab). IS moved to the village of Sheran on the city’s southern outskirts.

Fightings are also ongoing in the outskirts of the Zorava district, which is controlled by Kurds from the so-called Yekineyen Parastina Gel/People's Protection Units (PPS).

According to information distributed in social networks, the IS units are assaulting Kobani from two sides. More than 300 towns and villages around the city were left behind by Kurds. More than 130 thousands of Kurds fled to Turkey. Deserted villages were captured by the IS.

Meanwhile, sources of the IS have reported that additional forces have been transferred from city of Raqqa for the assault on Kobani.

According to local sources, the US warplanes have conducted air strikes on the positions of the IS on the outskirts of the city. At least one of the attacks hit the Kurdish positions. American aircraft mistakenly bombed an advanced outpost of the PPS.

Turkey, meanwhile, is going to conduct the so-called "cross-border operation" in Syria. The country’s parliament is intended to give authority to the government for such an operation.

Previously, the Turkish army deployed several dozen tanks on the border with Syria. Local media reported that the IS units have allegedly surrounded the tomb of Shah Suleiman, which is located on the territory of Syria, and guarded by the Turkish military.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denied the report, while threatening to "expected reaction from Turkey if anything bad happens to its shrine".

It is to be recalled that the IS units have long been located a few hundred meters from the tomb of Shah Suleiman. IS does not prevent the movement of Turkish troops across the border and do not take any hostile action against the tomb.

Earlier, the Turkish authorities have stated that they would not participate in military actions against the IS and would not join the so-called coalition, which was organized by the US with the puppet Arab regimes. However, in the last few days Ankara began to change the tune and threating to conduct the so-called "cross-border operation" in Syria.

On September 26, Erdogan held a telephone conversation with Obama. During the talks, the Turkish President said that Ankara intended to "continue its joint strategic activities with the United States in the fight against terrorist organizations in the region, in particular the IS".

However, as the practice teaches, the rhetoric of the Turkish authorities is often radically different from its actions, and there is no clarity in what practical steps can be taken by Ankara in connection with the worsening military situation on the border with Syria.

Meanwhile, Turkish sources report that recently the authorities of the country have sharply increased activity in arresting the volunteers trying to get to Syria through Turkey. In this case, the arrests are clearly selective. 

 

©  EsinIslam.Com

Add Comments