Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers approved a plan on Wednesday to send fighters to the Syrian town of Kobani to relieve fellow Kurds under attack by Islamic State [IS] militants, marking the semi-autonomous region's first military foray into Syria's war.
Kobani lies on the border with Turkey, and IS fighters keen to consolidate gains in northern Syria have pressed an offensive against the town even as US-led forces started bombing their positions.
The battle has also taken on major political significance for Turkey, where the siege has sparked protests among Kurds and threatened a peace process with Turkey’s own Kurdish insurgents, who are angry at the government for failing to aid Kobani.
Under pressure to go beyond humanitarian assistance for those fleeing the violence, Turkey said on Monday it would allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters, known as “peshmerga” or those who confront death, to cross its territory to reach Kobani.
Iraqi Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Haji Omer said the Kurdish parliament approved the plan in a session on Wednesday.
Iraqi Kurdish official Hemin Hawrami said on Twitter that the peshmerga would be equipped with heavy weapons. This would help the besieged fighters against the better-armed IS militants.
Gunshots rang out throughout the day and an air strike occurred near the centre of the Kobani in the early afternoon, while five Kurdish fighters were buried in the Turkish border town of Suruc to defiant speeches and Kurdish songs.
Idris Nassan, a local Kurdish official, said clashes had taken place in the east, southeast and southwest of Kobani. "They [IS] are always bringing more people and weapons from the surrounding areas and also from [the Syrian province of] Raqqa and Iraq. It's obvious every time they attack."
One resident who asked not to be named said IS were still in control of the town centre.
The pro-IS Amaq News Agency released a video of fighters speaking from what they said was the centre of Kobani, claiming that they are advancing despite coalition air strikes.
On Sunday the United States said it had air-dropped medical supplies and weapons to Kurds in Kobani provided by Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) – a move Turkey's president Tayyip Erdogan criticised yesterday because IS fighters managed to seize some of the weapons.
The Pentagon said two bundles of military supplies for Kurdish fighters in Kobani went astray during an air drop earlier this week, with one destroyed later by an air strike and the other taken by IS militants. Twenty-six other bundles reached their targets.
“There is always going to be some margin of error in these types of operations. In fact, we routinely overload these aircraft because we know some bundles may go astray,” said US army colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.
“One bundle worth of equipment is not enough equipment to give the enemy any type of advantage at all.”
Speaking at a news conference, Mr Erdogan said he proposed the move to facilitate the passage of peshmerga fighters in a call with Barack Obama at the weekend. "At first they didn't say yes ... but then they gave a partial yes and we said we would help," he said. – (Reuters)