Helping Kobani no justification for foreign interference: Iran

Helping the people in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani should not be used as an excuse for foreign intervention in the Arab country, says an Iranian official.

The Islamic Republic warns those who pursue specific goals by taking advantage of regional conditions against the recent foreign moves in the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab (Kobani) and the consequences of the disintegration of Syria, said Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Thursday.

He added that protecting Syria’s territorial integrity and national unity will be beneficial to the people of Syria and all regional countries.

Amir-Abdollahian also criticized the United States for its destructive policies which have resulted in the escalation of terrorism and foreign interventions in the Middle East on the pretext of fighting the ISIL terrorist group.

The flashpoint city of Kobani, known as Ain al-Arab in Arabic, and its surroundings have been under attack since mid-September, with the ISIL militants capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages. More than 800 people have been killed on both sides during the battle for the city.

According to reports, the intense fighting for the strategic town has also forced over 200,000 people to take refuge in neighboring Turkey.

On Wednesday, a 200-member convoy of foreign-backed militants from the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) crossed from Turkey into the Syrian border city of Kobani to join Kurdish forces in their battle against ISIL Takfiri militants.

Since September 23, the US and several of its Arab allies — Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, — have been conducting airstrikes against ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

The head of the Kobani city council says US-led campaign against the ISIL Takfiri terrorists is fruitless because it has failed to prevent ISIL militants from advancing toward Kobani.