On Wednesday (29/1/014) there was a dramatic increase in the fighting in the strategically important city of Kobane/Ayn al-Arab which sits just 1km (0.6 miles) from Syria's border with Turkey. In the eastern portion of the city the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) significantly intensified their attacks that have been happening almost continuously over the past two weeks. In the south of the city ISIL launched a fresh offensive that was repelled by Kobane's defenders after many hours of fighting. In both of these areas some 54 ISIL fighters were confirmed killed and 16 members of the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) also lost their lives.
The main and probably only reason for these fresh ISIL offensives which included a massive and sustained shelling of the northern border-crossing was the imminent arrival of two artillery platoons from the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga along with weapons and equipment sent to relieve Kobane. The 150 troops that will actually be joining the YPG in Kobane arrived in the Turkish border city of Sucac just before dawn on Wednesday having flown in from Arbil, Iraq. Sucac and Kobane actually used to be two halves of the same city until the fall of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire in 1922 when the railway line that run through the city centre was used as the new border between Turkey and Syria. The name "Kobane" actually derives from the German "Bahn" meaning "train" or "track." Therefore you wouldn't have thought it would have taken long for the Peshmerga to travel from Sucac to Kobane.
The problem was that Peshmergas supply convoy carrying all their weapons and equipment was travelling by road and kept getting delayed. In part this was because everywhere the convoy went it was treated as liberating heroes and mobbed by crowds. However the much larger problem was that ever since entering Turkey on Tuesday (28/10/14) evening the convoy has been under a Turkish military escort. That escort has been able to play a large role in dictating the pace of the convoy.
Fortunately the Peshmerga convoy did finally arrive in very early hours of this morning and an advance party of around 75 Peshmergas have crossed into Kobane. They are currently assessing the best way to bring the remaining fighters and equipment into Kobane. After all it would be a huge waste of effort if those weapons and fighters were destroyed or captured at this final hurdle.
The arrival of the Peshmerga was proceeded on Wednesday morning by the arrival of a small detachment of the Free Syria Army (FSA). Their commander claims that some 200 fighters have entered Kobane but no-one has actually seen any more then 50 equipped with a small amount of medium weapons. The arrival of the FSA was much less welcome then the arrival of the Peshmerga not least because no-one actually invited them, they just turned up.
The main problem with the FSA is that it is not clear what role they intend to play. Although the Peshmerga will remain independent of the YPG they have agreed to operate under the command of the YPG. The FSA however have not reached a similar agreement suggesting that they intend to do their own thing regardless of what the main plan is. The other main problem is that in the past units of the FSA have co-operated closely with ISIL and commanders of other FSA units have been quite open about their desire to violently rid Kobane of Kurds so it will live up to its other name "Ayn al-Arab."
Finally the FSA seem to have been sent to Kobane at the insistence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who seems to be co-operating closely with ISIL to have the Kurds exterminated. Initially Erdogan wanted 1,300 FSA fighters sent to Kobane before he would entertain allowing 150 Peshmerga in. Although everyone who is in Kobane that can hold a rifle is currently doing so there are only around 2,000 official members of the YPG there. Therefore it is quite easy to view Erdogan's demand as a quite clear and clearly illegal attempt to change the ethnic make-up of Kobane. Fortunately the arrival of just 50 FSA fighters is not likely to have much effect particularly if they are prepared to operate under the command of the YPG.
In terms of what and how many weapons the Peshmerga have brought with them I don't have any specific information and I'm not particularly sure I want to find out about it on the Internet. However it is quite clear that the Peshmerga are very focused on bringing in heavy and medium weapons such as mortars, anti-tank guns and anti-tank missiles. These will obviously allow the YPG to better take on ISIL tanks, truck bombs (VBIED's) and machine gun/sniper positions within Kobane without having to rely on air-strikes from the US-led coalition. Air-strikes will though still be needed to attack ISIL artillery and other positions outside of the city.
I should point out though that while it will provide much needed relief and help strengthen Kobane's defences the arrival of the Peshmerga does not suddenly mean that ISIL have been defeated and the city is secure. Although they are not making huge gains all these little offensives that ISIL have been mounting have succeeded in securing a street here and a building there. All these little gains have been adding up meaning that ISIL have gone from controlling only around 20% of the city to controlling between 30-40% of the city. As a result the first priority is to stop ISIL from advancing further into Kobane. Once this has been achieved the YPG can start trying to force ISIL out of the city. If they can achieve that then the YPG starting think about pushing ISIL back from Kobane in order to establish a defensive perimeter around it. In order to do this they will need constant re-supply either by air or ideally via road from Turkey. After all guns are only useful if you've got bullets to fire from them.
On the issue of re-supply the US did manage to carry out an air-drop on Monday (27/10/14) to Iraqi forces who have been holding out against ISIL forces in Iraq's Anbar province. The Iraqis obviously requested this air-drop because their troops needed re-supply. However the US only seemed happy to carry out because the Iraqi forces are located near Al-Asad airbase. As such this seems to have been done in order to indulge Turkish President Erdogan's claim that Kobane cannot be supplied because the coalition should be focused on fighting the Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad.
This deeply worrying for a number of reasons. Firstly it shows that US President Obama has yet to accept that the coalition is not there to fight the Syrian government which would be a gross violation of international law. Instead the coalition is there purely to defeat ISIL. Once that has been achieved what happens next isn't really the coalition's problem. Mainly though it is worrying because it shows that Obama still has not realised that he is conducting a war rather then participating in a High School debating competition.
18:05 on 30/10/14 (UK date).
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