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1 OF 2. Turkish policemen stand guard outside the gate of a camp that hosts Peshmerga fighters in the border town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province, October 30, 2014.
CREDIT: REUTERS/YANNIS BEHRAKIS
(Reuters) - U.S.-led air strikes hit Islamic State positions around the Syrian border town of Kobani on Friday in an apparent bid to pave the way for heavily-armed Kurdish peshmerga forces to enter from neighbouring Turkey.
The predominantly Kurdish town, besieged for more than 40 days, has become the focus of a global war against the Sunni Muslim insurgents, who have captured expanses of Iraq andSyria and declared an Islamic "caliphate" straddling the two.
Its fighters have slaughtered or driven away Shi'ite Muslims, Christians and other communities who do not share their ultra-radical brand of Sunni Islam. They executed at least 220 Iraqis in retaliation against opposition to their takeover of territory west of Baghdad this week.
The siege of Kobani -- known in Arabic as Ayn al-Arab -- has turned into a test of the U.S.-led coalition's ability to stop Islamic State's advance, with weeks of air strikes so far failing to break the insurgents' stranglehold.
Kobani's defenders, outgunned by the militants, are hoping the arrival of peshmerga forces from Iraqi Kurdistan with badly-needed weapons including cannon and truck-mounted machine-guns will help them turn the tide.
An advance guard of 10 peshmerga briefly entered Kobani on Thursday to discuss a joint strategy with leaders of the YPG, the main Syrian Kurdish armed group defending the town.
Armoured vehicles came and went from a former cotton processing warehouse near the Turkish border town of Suruc on Friday, where the wider contingent of around 150 peshmerga fighters were preparing for their deployment.
Tankers from the convoy emerged from the compound, guarded by Turkish security forces, to fill up at a local fuel station.
"For the past 15 days, Islamic State has been attacking to try to take control of the border gate, including with car bombs. But we are resisting," said Enver Muslim, the top administrative official in the Kobani district.
"While the peshmerga convoy passes, U.S. jets will be overhead and warplanes from the coalition ... will be flying over Kobani to ensure their security," he told Reuters by phone.
Around 200 fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) - an umbrella term for the dozens of armed groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - have also entered Kobani fromTurkey to support the struggle against Islamic State.
AIR COVER
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday preliminary information indicated that at least 21 Islamic State members were killed in coalition air strikes around Kobani, including a Danish jihadist.
A local journalist in the town said there had been several air strikes overnight and a Reuters correspondent saw one early on Friday to the east of Kobani.
U.S. Central Command said on Thursday there had been 10 strikes near Kobani since the previous day, hitting two small insurgent units and destroying seven fighting positions and five buildings.
The peshmerga were given a heroes' welcome as their convoy of jeeps and flatbed trucks crossed Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast this week, making their way towards Kobani from their base in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region.
It is unclear whether the small but heavily armed contingent will be enough to swing the battle, but the deployment is a potent display of unity between Kurdish groups that more often seek to undermine each other.
Syria responded to the arrival of the peshmerga by condemning Turkey for allowing foreign fighters and "terrorists" to enter Syria in a violation of its sovereignty. Its foreign ministry described the move as a "disgraceful act".
Turkey, which is a staunch backer of the moderate rebels fighting Assad in the Syrian civil war, dismissed the comments.
But Ankara has made clear it will not send troops into Syria and has been a reluctant member of the U.S.-led coalition, insisting that any military strategy should also include the removal of Assad from power.
Ankara also fears Syria's Kurds will exploit the chaos by following their brethren in Iraq and seeking to carve out an independent state in northern Syria, emboldening Kurdish militants in Turkey and derailing a fragile peace process.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel acknowledged on Thursday that Assad may be benefiting from U.S. attacks on Islamic State fighters in his country, although he added that U.S. policy still supported Assad's removal from power.
(Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz in Beirut; Writing by Nick Tattersall, editing by Peter Millership)
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