The U.S.-led coalition struck Islamic State targets on Tuesday in Syria, near its border with Turkey, in support of Kurdish fighters holding on to the city of Kobani, reports said.
The ground attacks in Kobani's streets are centered on the southern section of the city, and are regarded as less intense than Monday's effort to repel IS militants. Over 160,000 residents, mostly Kurds, have fled Kobani, and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said IS has overtaken a number of buildings in Kobani's south.
Reports Tuesday indicate the airstrikes concentrated on areas west of the city, and the U.S. Central Command did not confirm any information from the scene of the strikes. SOHR said IS forces pulled back from Kobani's eastern districts in heavy fighting.
Mistenur, a strategic hill overlooking the city, fell to IS forces Monday.
The fighting is within view of Turkish troops on the border between Syria and Turkey, who are prepared to get involved but have not yet been ordered to do so. Ambulances, however, are traveling from the city to the border, where many victims are being treated.
"If this continues, if there's no international aid, military aid arriving for the residents of Kobani and these Kurdish fighters that are fighting in Kobani, it could fall into the hands of IS," said Karwan Zebari, a Kurdish representative in the United States, told the BBC, urging Turkey to get involved.
Clashes between Turkish police and Kurds were reported in several cities, as well as between refugees and Turkish security forces on the border, as Kurds are angered over Turkey's lack of involvement in the fight against IS.
The Turkish government, which has fought its own war against Kurds within the country, is reluctant to intervene, despite a government pledge to get involved in protecting Kobani. Turkey seeks, from the coalition, a no-fly buffer zone on the Turkey-Syria border, as well as assurances of a renewed drive to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power.
By Ed Adamczyk
