For the last several weeks the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been desperately trying to launch a fresh assault on the city of Kobane/Ayn al-Arab which sits just 1km (0.6 miles) from Syria's border with Turkey. The reason for ISIL's urgency has been the need to relieve their fighters who are trapped in Kobane and gradually being forced from their positions by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
Despite air-strikes by the US-led coalition against ISIL staging areas on Monday (24/11/14) through to Wednesday (26/11/14) that fresh assault on Kobane began today on the 76th day of the battle.
At around 05:00(local)/03:00(GMT) a column of ISIL tanks backed by infantry advanced on the south-west entrance to Kobane. At the same time two Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED's/truck bombs) backed by suicide bombers and infantry units attacked the northern Mursitpinar border crossing that directly links Kobane to Turkey. This was accompanied by an increase in ISIL shelling from positions several kilometres to the west of Tall Shair hill and the fighting between the YPG and ISIL fighters trapped in positions in the east and south of Kobane has continued.
Although 9 YPG fighters have been killed in these attacks at least 30 ISIL fighters have died meaning that neither attack came close to breaking through Kobane's defences allowing ISIL to seize more territory. In fact I've delayed writing this up for a few hours in the hope that it would be confirmed that the assault is over having being successfully repelled. However it now looks as though that confirmation will not come until morning as the YPG currently have more important things then paperwork to deal with at the moment.
However what cannot be ignored about today's assault is that the attack on the northern Mursitpinar border crossing originated from an industrial site owned and operated by the state-run Turkish Grain Board (TMO) which sits around 400metres (436 yards) away from the border crossing firmly on the Turkish side of the border. It was at this location that the VBIED's used in the attack were manufactured and where the infantry units that took part were assembled. As they repelled the attack the YPG chased the ISIL fighters from the border crossing to this TMO depot and engaged them at that location.
As we've all seen on countless occasions the border region close to Kobane/Surac is absolutely swamped with members of the Turkish military and the Turkish security forces who have been trying to stop the YPG receiving supplies and fresh fighters. It takes several days to construct VBIED's and assemble troops for an assault meaning that it is extremely unlikely that the Turkish government did not know that ISIL had established a staging area within their territory. In fact I'm hearing rumours from intelligence circles suggesting that not only did intelligence agencies in the US-led coalition know that ISIL were operating from within Turkey but they also knew that Turkey knew where ISIL were operating from. İzzettin Küçük - the Governor of the Turkey's Urfa border province has also confirmed that ISIL have been operating from within Turkey and today's attack originated from there.
As such it seems that Turkey has now joined the war against ISIL - on the side of ISIL. With Turkey being a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and therefore a formal ally of many of the nations in the coalition to fight ISIL Turkey's actions cannot be without consequences.
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2170 (2014) authorises military action against ISIL and the Al Nusra Front (ANF) regardless of what nation state they are operating in. Therefore the most serious consequence of Turkey's actions would be for the coalition to now start attacking ISIL targets within Turkey including their semi-official Consulate in the Turkish capital Ankara. As the coalition has already mistakenly bombed grain storage depots by accident in this conflict if I worked for TMO I would be starting to worry about their viability of some of their assets.
Obviously the immediate suspension of Turkey's membership of NATO should also be seriously considered in response to Turkey's decision to ally itself with a terrorist group that is currently fighting other NATO members. It almost goes without saying that there will have to be a UNSC meeting to discuss this latest development and that meeting may well chose to add Turkish government officials including the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the list of individuals who are subject to economic sanctions and travel bans due to their support for ISIL.
At the very least you would expect for Turkey to be refused meetings with figures in the governments of the nations in the coalition it has just attacked and certainly for Turkey to be denied entry to any further meetings of that coalition.
However given the cowardly way that US President Barack Obama has handled this conflict in general and Turkey in particular it would be a miracle if we even got an acknowledgement of the attack let alone a public statement condemning Turkey's actions.
21:30 on 29/11/14 (UK date).
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