Posted October 19, 2014 08:58:30
US-led coalition jets have carried out at least six new airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Kobane in a bid to flush the militants out of the besieged Syrian town.
It was not immediately clear how successful the airstrikes were in weakening the IS militants' position in and around Kobane.
Shelling continued after the strikes hit the centre of of the town. Several mortars fell inside Turkey near the border gate, called Mursitpinar, according to witnesses.
Islamic State militants have battled Kurdish fighters for a month to take control of Kobane and consolidate a 95-kilometre stretch of land they control along the Turkish border, but stepped-up air strikes in recent days have helped Kurds fend off the advance.
The coalition has been bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq since August and extended the campaign to Syria in September after the Islamic State made huge territorial gains.
NATO member Turkey is a somewhat reluctant member of the coalition, insisting it must also confront Syria's Bashar al-Assad to end a civil war that has killed some 200,000 civilians since March 2011.
On Saturday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said US-led forces bombing Islamic State in Syria killed 10 civilians in two separate air strikes.
But the US Central Command said there was no evidence to back up the report. A spokesman said its forces use mitigation measures to reduce the potential for civilian casualties.
Intense shelling
The Syrian Observatory said the Islamic State had launched at least 21 mortar attacks on Saturday close to the border.
Abdulrahman Gok, a journalist inside Kobane, said by telephone that the fighting was the worst in two days.
'In the past hour, the shelling has intensified. They are firing almost one every two minutes,' he said, adding that the insurgents were aiming at the east side of town towards the Mursitpinar gate.
A cloud of black smoke towered over the centre of Kobane following the latest air strike as the roar of fighter jets could be heard from a blue sky. Gunfire popped in the west and centre of town.
Elsewhere in Syria, government forces shelled neighbourhoods in Damascus, the southern province of Deraa and the central province of Homs, opposition activists said.
Army helicopters were dropping improvised barrel bombs on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in northwest Idlib province, which also borders Turkey, they said.
Islamic State supporters circulated what they said was a nine-second video clip of a fighter jet said to be flown by Islamic State militants.
The Observatory reported that Iraqi pilots who have joined Islamic State in Syria were training members of the group to fly in three captured fighter jets over the captured al-Jarrah military airport east of Aleppo.
US Central Command said on Friday that it was not aware of Islamic State flying jets in Syria.
Reuters said it could not confirm the authenticity of the footage, which showed a jet flying at low altitude.
Reuters
Topics:unrest-conflict-and-war, defence-and-national-security, syrian-arab-republic, turkey, iraq
Posted by Unknown on Saturday, October 18, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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