World
US military aircraft have dropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State (IS) militants in the key Syrian town of Kobane. The BBC writes:
US Central Command said C-130 transport aircraft had made "multiple" drops of supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq. US air strikes have helped push back IS in the town near the Turkish border. Correspondents say the airdrops are likely to anger key US ally Turkey.
The drops of supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq were "intended to enable continued resistance against Isil's attempts to overtake Kobane," CentCom said in a statement. IS is also referred to as Isil and Isis. All the aircraft involved had returned safely, it added.
CentCom says US forces have conducted more than 135 air strikes against IS in Kobani.
"Combined with continued resistance to Isil on the ground, indications are that these strikes have slowed Isil advances into the city, killed hundreds of their fighters and destroyed or damaged scores of pieces of Isil combat equipment and fighting positions," its statement said.
However, it added that IS fighters continued to threaten Kurdish forces' ability to resist and hold the city. "Kobane could still fall," it said.
On Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would not allow Kurdish fighters to receive any transfers of American arms.
A top Syrian rebel commander was shot and wounded in an apparent kidnapping attempt by the Islamic State in a Turkish city, raising questions about Ankara’s readiness to stop jihadists operating on its soil. The Telegraph reports:
Abu Issa, the leader of Thuwar Raqqa, a Syrian rebel group who has been fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in the town of Kobane, was ambushed by Isil extremists in Urfa in neighbouring Turkey.
Ankara has adopted tighter national security measures in recent months in an attempt to stem the flow of foreign fighters who have used its long border with Syria as a conduit to jihad.
But the flagrant kidnapping attempt in the southeastern town of Urfa, shows how Isil can still operate inside this Nato country with relative impunity.
The rebel commander and his son, Ammar, 20, were snatched from the car on Friday afternoon whilst returning home after meeting with Turkish officials in Urfa city centre, his aides told the Telegraph. “Isil cars blocked the road ahead of them, and four armed men grabbed them from the vehicle,” said Ahmed Abdul Khader, a spokesman for Thuwar Raqqa.
“It was 6.30pm.” A matching account of the kidnapping was separately given to the Telegraph by Abo Ayham, another military commander in the group. Abu Issa’s closest advisor, who was driving, had been in on the Isil plot, Mr Khader said, detouring to the quiet back road where the attack happened:
“When the Isil cars blocked the road ahead, Abu Issa told the driver to turn around, but he just switched the engine off, and let the kidnappers take them from the car,” he said.
