.
"They are trying to eradicate our
culture, purge our nation."
9/24/14, "Islamic fighters advance in Syria despite U.S. strikes," Reuters, Kinda Makieh and Jonny Hogg, Damascus/Mursitpinar Turkey
"U.S. planes pounded Islamic State positions in Syria
for a second day on Wednesday, but the strikes did not halt the fighters' advance in a Kurdish area where fleeing refugees told of
villages burnt and captives beheaded....
The United
States said it was still assessing whether Mohsin al-Fadhli, a senior
figure in the al Qaeda-linked group Khorasan, had been killed in a U.S.
strike in Syria....
Syrian
Kurds said Islamic State had responded to U.S. attacks by intensifying
its assault near the Turkish border in northern Syria, where 140,000
civilians have fled in recent days in the fastest exodus of the
three-year civil war.
Washington
and its Arab allies killed scores of Islamic State fighters in the
opening 24 hours of air strikes, the first direct U.S. foray into Syria
two weeks after Obama pledged to hit the group on both sides of the
Iraq-Syria border.
However,
the intensifying advance on the northern town of Kobani showed the
difficulty Washington faces in defeating Islamist fighters in Syria,
where it lacks strong military allies on the ground.
"Those air strikes are not important. We need soldiers on the ground," said Hamed, a refugee who fled into Turkey from the Islamic State advance.
Mazlum
Bergaden, a teacher from Kobani who crossed the border on Wednesday
with his family, said two of his brothers had been taken captive by
Islamic State fighters.
"The
situation is very bad. After they kill people, they are burning the
villages....When they capture any village, they behead one person to
make everyone else afraid," he said. "They are trying to eradicate our
culture, purge our nation."
Fighting
between Islamic State militants and Kurds could be seen from across the
border in Turkey, where the sounds of sporadic artillery and gunfire
echoed around the hills.
FOCUS ON IRAQI BORDER...
The
initial days of U.S. strikes suggest one aim is to hamper Islamic
State's ability to operate across the Iraqi-Syrian frontier. On
Wednesday U.S.-led forces hit at least 13 targets in and around Albu
Kamal, one of the main border crossings between Iraq
and Syria, after striking 22 targets there on Tuesday, said the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, a body which monitors the conflict in
Syria.
The U.S. military
confirmed it had struck inside Syria northwest of al Qaim, the Iraqi
town at the Albu Kamal border crossing. It also struck inside Iraq west
of Baghdad and near the Iraqi Kurdish capital Arbil on Wednesday....
Perched
on the main Euphrates valley highway, Albu Kamal controls the route
from Islamic State's de facto capital Raqqa in Syria to the frontlines
in western Iraq and down the Euphrates to the western and southern
outskirts of Baghdad....
France,
which has confined its air strikes to Iraq, said it would stay the
course despite the killing of hostage Herve Gourdel, 55, a mountain
guide captured on vacation in Algeria on Sunday by a group claiming
loyalty to Islamic State.
In
a video released by the Caliphate Soldiers group entitled "a message of
blood to the French government", gunmen paraded Gourdel's severed head
after making him kneel, pushing him on his side and holding him down.
DAMASCUS: CAMPAIGN GOES "IN RIGHT DIRECTION"
The
campaign has blurred the traditional lines of Middle East alliances,
pitting a U.S. coalition comprised of countries opposed to Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad against fighters that form the most powerful
opposition to Assad on the ground.
The
attacks have so far encountered no objection, and even signs of
approval, from Assad's Syrian government. Syrian state TV led its news
broadcast with Wednesday's air strikes on the border with Iraq, saying
"the USA and its partners" had launched raids against "the terrorist
organisation Islamic State."
U.S. officials say they informed both Assad and his main ally Iran in advance of their intention to strike but did not coordinate with them.
Jordan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have joined in the strikes. All are ruled by Sunni Muslims and are
staunch opponents of Assad, a member of a Shi'ite-derived sect, and his
main regional ally, Shi'ite Iran....
In perhaps
the strongest signal yet that Damascus wants to be seen as fighting the
same battle as Washington, Syria's minister for national reconciliation
Ali Haidar told Reuters: "What has happened so far is proceeding in the
right direction in terms of informing the Syrian government and by not
targeting Syrian military installations and not targeting civilians."
ISLAMIC STATE ADVANCES ON KURDS
Even
as Islamic State outposts elsewhere have been struck, the fighters have
accelerated their campaign to capture Kobani, a Kurdish city on the
border with Turkey. Nearly 140,000 Syrian Kurds have fled into Turkey
since last week,
the fastest exodus of the entire three-year civil war.
An
Islamic State source, speaking to Reuters via online messaging, said
the group had taken several villages to the west of Kobani. Footage
posted on YouTube appeared to show Islamic State fighters using weapons
including artillery as they battled Kurdish forces near Kobani. The
Islamists were shown raising the group's black flag after tearing down a
Kurdish one.
A Turkish
official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the advance had been
rapid three days ago but was slowed by the U.S.-led air strikes.
But
Ocalan Iso, deputy leader of Kurdish forces defending Kobani, said more
militants and tanks had arrived in the area since the coalition began
air strikes on the group.
"Kobani is in danger," he said."...
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