Syrian Kurds repel 7 ISIL attacks on Kobani
Kurdish militants continue defending the northern Syrian city of Kobani, thwarting seven overnight attacks by the ISIL terrorists aimed at capturing the city.
According to Kurdish sources, the Takfiri militants intensified their onslaught from the south, west and east of the Kurdish city.
Kurdish fighters also foiled at least two attacks by ISIL terrorists near the center of Kobani.
Meanwhile, a UK-based Syrian opposition group says the US-led coalition carried out at least two airstrikes in the eastern and southern parts of Kobani overnight.
However, head of the defense council in Kobani Ismet Sheikh Hassan has dismissed the airstrikes as ineffective, and warned of a possible massacre if Kobani falls to the ISIL.
On Friday, the United Nations’ envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura warned that thousands of people “will most likely be massacred” if Kobani falls into the hands of ISIL Takfiri militants.
De Mistura further noted that he feared a repeat of the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, when Bosnian Serb forces marched into the town, and killed more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys at execution sites.
He also urged the Turkish government to allow Kurdish volunteers to cross the border into Kobani and defend it against ISIL militants.
According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is close to the Syrian opposition, ISIL forces pushed forward on Thursday, and now control at least 40 percent of Kobani, including all eastern areas, a small part of the northeast and an area in the southeast.
However, local Kurdish officials say the Takfiri militants are in control of a small part of the strategic border town.
The weeks-long intense battle for the strategic town has forced nearly 200,000 people to take refuge in Turkey.