Kobane To Fall To IS Militants?

Alarming news is coming from the Middle East where the Islamic State fighters may soon take over the Syria-Turkey border town of Kabone.

The BBC has reported that a flag of IS has been seen flying over a building on the eastern edge of Kobane.

The official, Idriss Nassan – who confirmed the story to BBC and who is stationed there – said that Mistenur, the strategic hill above the town, has fallen to IS.

Over the past three days, Syrian Kurds have been engaged in intense fights with the IS in order to protect the town. Reports say that the IS militants have been besieging it for nearly three weeks. Since then, more than 160,000 Syrians, mainly Kurds, have fled across the border.

It should be noted that capturing the town would give IS unbroken control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.

Last week, Turkey had pledged to prevent Kobane from falling to the militants and its parliament authorised military operations against militants in Iraq and Syria. But the government seems to be nothing for the same. No action has been taken to prevent fighting.

It is being said that Turkey is reluctant to lend support to the Kurdish forces because they are allied to PKK, an organization banned in Turkey marked as terror group.

The Kurds and the refugees in the area are quite angry over the government’s inaction. However, the Kurds have been fighting the IS quite bravely. On Sunday, a Kurdish woman carried a suicide bomb attack and killed a number of IS militants.

Kobane is known as Ayn al-Arab in Arabic. Kurdish parties have governed the area since the Syrian army withdrew two years ago. In the first half of 2013, IS seized control of neighbouring areas, leaving Kobane surrounded on three sides. IS launched a major offensive on 16 September, prompting more than 100,000 people to flee to Turkey.