FSA admits sending militants to Kobani through Turkey
The so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) admits for the first time that it has sent hundreds of militants to Syria’s northern city of Kobani through Turkey, with Damascus condemning Ankara for letting the militants enter Syria.
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A Turkish-based FSA commander was quoted by Reuters as saying on Thursday that 400 FSA militants were in Kobani fighting against the ISIL.
Nizaral-Khateeb added that even more reinforcements are poised to enter the flashpoint city at a later time.
He added that a coordinating post has been established to facilitate activities between the group’s forces and Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.
Earlier in the day, Abdul Jabbar al-Oqaidi, another FSA commander, said that around 200 FSA militants had entered Kobani from Turkey.
The development comes as reports say a first group of around 10 Peshmerga fighters entered Kobani. A hundred and fifty Kurdish fighters are also ready to gradually join their comrades in the city as gunfire and shelling by the ISIL Takfiri militants on the border area appeared to be causing delays.
“ISIL has intensified its attacks on the border gate after the news of the Peshmerga’s arrival... and the clashes have been fierce,” Idris Nassan, a Kurdish official, said.
Meanwhile, Syria slammed Turkey for allowing the FSA militants to enter Syria, which Damascus said constituted a violation of its sovereignty. The Syrian Foreign Ministry called the move a “disgraceful act.”
Kobani and its surroundings have been under attack since mid-September, with the ISIL militants capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages.
The ISIL advance in the region has forced tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds to flee into Turkey, which is a stone’s throw from Kobani.
Turkey continues to block any delivery of military, medical or humanitarian assistance into Kobani, where the ISIL terrorists are feared to be aiming at massive bloodletting.
Analysts say Ankara, having already won the US green light, plans to let the terrorists seize the Kurdish town of Kobani before sending tanks and troops to fight them in a bid to capture and possibly annex the Syrian territory.
