US military aircraft air-dropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies for Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State (IS) militants near the Syrian border town of Kobani on Sunday night, the US Central Command said.
In multiple airdrops, US Air Force C-130 aircraft "delivered weapons, ammunition and medical supplies that were provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq and intended to enable continued resistance against ISIL's attempts to overtake Kobani," it said in a statement, using an acronym to refer to Islamic State.
The statement said 135 US air strikes near Kobani in recent days, combined with continued resistance against IS on the ground, had slowed the group’s advances into the town and killed hundreds of its fighters.
“However, the security situation in Kobani remains fragile as ISIL continues to threaten the city and Kurdish forces continue to resist,” the statement said. It mentioned no new air strikes.
The fiercest fighting in days shook Kobani on Saturday night as IS fighters attacked Kurdish defenders with mortars and car bombs, sources in the town and a monitoring group have said.
IS fired 44 mortars at Kurdish parts of the town on Saturday and some of the shells fell inside nearby Turkey, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said four more mortars were fired yesterday.
The month-long battle for Kobani has ebbed and flowed. A week ago, Kurds said the town would soon fall. The US and its coalition partners then stepped up air strikes on IS, which wants to take Kobani in order to strengthen its position in northern Syria.
The coalition has been bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq since August and extended the campaign to Syria in September after IS, a group that espouses a rigid interpretation of Islam and initially fought Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s forces, made huge territorial gains.
Nato member Turkey, whose forces are ranged along the border overlooking Kobani, is reluctant to intervene. It insists the allies should also confront Mr Assad to end Syria's civil war, which has killed close to 200,000 people since March 2011.
The Syrian Observatory said 70 Islamic State fighters had been killed since Friday, according to sources at the hospital in the nearby town of Tel Abyab, where IS bodies are taken. These reports could not be independently confirmed due to security restrictions.
The Observatory said some Syrian Arab fighters from the Revolutionaries of Raqqa Brigade, who are fighting alongside Kurdish fighters, had executed two IS captives.
“One was a child of around 15 years old. They shot them in the head,” he said.
IS have also used executions throughout their campaigns in Syria and Iraq, killing hundreds of enemy combatants and civilians who oppose their cause, according to Islamic State videos and statements.
Welat Omer, a doctor caring for the few remaining civilians in Kobani, said he was looking after 15 patients, including children and the elderly.
“We need medicine, including antibiotics and milk for the children, and medicine for the elderly, who have heart conditions, diabetes and high blood pressure,” Mr Omer said.
Hundreds of thousands have fled IS’s advance. Turkey hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, including almost 200,000 Syrian Kurds from Kobani.
Agencies