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Hundreds of Kurds have entered northern Syria from Turkey to battle militants besieging the city of Ain al-Arab, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.
“At least 800 Kurdish fighters crossed the Turkish-Syrian border to help their comrades in Ain al-Arab (Kobane in Kurdish), which is under total siege by Islamic State jihadists”, the Observatory’s director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Kurdish Syrian activist Havidar said that the stream of fighters came in as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been designated as a terrorist organization in Turkey, gave orders for Kurdish fighters to protect Kobane.
“Fighters started going into Kobane from Turkey some four or five days ago.But the latest entry, last night, came after orders from the higher leadership of the PKK. Last night, there were celebrations in Kobane — fighters were firing into the air as they arrived in the town”, he said.
Abdel Rahman also seemed to agree and said that the movement had come in after a PKK call. “The Kurds are preparing for an assault by the Islamic State”, he said.
Syrian Kurds have been battling IS militants for months now. Referring to seizure of weapons by the Iraqi army in the midst of an IS offensive, Havidar said, “This is the first time that the jihadists appear to be advancing while the Kurds are suffering real setbacks. That is because IS has brought in a lot of weapons from Iraq”.
“Kurds going in to fight are from everywhere — Turkey, Iran, Syria and others. Even some Kurds based in Europe are saying they want to go fight”, he added.
Kobane, besieged by advancing IS militants, is strategically important as it is located between the IS bastion Raqa and Aleppo.
“The situation is certainly going to get worse before it gets any better”, Havidar said.