Food, Health, Money, Fitness, Joy, Sports, Games, Finance, Jobs, Work, Life Hacks, Computer, Technology, Mobiles, Politics and anything you will ever think about could be found here.
Saturday, 4 October 2014
US jets attack Isis as Turkish leader rebukes Biden for remarks about foreign fighters
A Turkish soldier stands guard as Syrians from Kobani wait to enter Turkey at the border crossing of Yumurtalik on Thursday.Photograph: Burhan Ozbilici/AP
US-led war planes attacked Islamic State (Isis) targets around the
Syrian border town of Kobani overnight as the insurgents pressed their
assault against its Kurdish defenders, a monitoring group and witnesses
said.
On Friday, a video was released of the murder of a British aid worker, Alan Henning, the fourth western hostage killed in recent weeks, and warning that an American, Peter Kassig, would be killed next.
On Saturday, fighting continued around Kobani while in Iraq, Isis
fighters captured the town of Kubaisa, in the western Anbar province,
two days after the fall of the nearby town of Hit. The fall of Kubaisa
jeopardises the Ain al-Asad military base, which allows Iraqi forces to
send troops and supplies to defend the Haditha dam further west.
Also on Saturday, the Pakistani Taliban declared allegiance to
Islamic State and ordered militants across the region to help the group
in its campaign to set up a global Islamic caliphate.
“Oh our brothers, we are proud of you in your victories. We are with
you in your happiness and your sorrow,” Taliban spokesman Shahidullah
Shahid said in a statement sent to Reuters by email from an unknown
location.
“In these troubled days, we call for your patience and stability,
especially now that all your enemies are united against you. Please put
all your rivalries behind you ...
“All Muslims in the world have great expectations of you ... We are
with you, we will provide you with Mujahideen [fighters] and with every
possible support.”
In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded an apology from
the US vice-president, Joe Biden, and warned he would become “history
for me” over comments in which Biden said the Turkish leader had
admitted Turkey had made mistakes by allowing foreign fighters to cross
into Syria.
Erdogan denied ever saying that and told reporters in Istanbul that
Biden “will be history for me if he has indeed used such expressions”.
Responding to questions following his speech at the Harvard Kennedy
School on Thursday, Biden described Erdogan as “an old friend”. Biden
added: “He [Erdogan] said: ‘You were right. We let too many people
through.’ Now they’re trying to seal their border.”
Erdogan said: “I have never said to him that we had made a mistake,
never. If he did say this at Harvard then he has to apologise to us.
Foreign fighters have never entered Syria from our country. They may
come to our country as tourists and cross into Syria, but no one can say
that they cross in with their arms.”
The killing of Henning, meanwhile, drew immediate condemnation from
western leaders. The British prime minister, David Cameron, said: “It is
senseless. It is completely unforgivable. Anyone in any doubt about
this organisation [Isis] can now see how truly repulsive it is and
barbaric it is.
“This is going to be our struggle now, that with others we must do
everything we can to defeat this organisation. We must take action
against it and we must find those responsible.”
Previous coalition air strikes have failed to stop the insurgent
offensive on the predominantly Kurdish Kobani and outgunned Kurdish
fighters have put up a desperate fight as shells rained down on the town
over the past week. Isis shelled the town again on Saturday and its
Kurdish defenders said they were expecting a new assault. Saturday’s
barrages were less intense than the previous day.
“Clashes continue now, they are shelling on all three fronts. They
tried to invade Kobani last night but they were repelled,” senior
Kurdish official Asya Abdullah told Reuters from the town.
“We think they are planning to launch another big attack but YPG is
prepared to resist them,” she said, referring to the Kurdish armed group
defending the town.
Sporadic heavy weapons fire could be heard east of Kobani, a Reuters correspondent said.
An estimated 180,000 people have fled across the border into Turkey
to escape the bloodshed. Isis fighters have vowed to take Kobani within
days, saying they would pray in its mosques for Eid, which began on
Saturday.
Warplanes from the US-led coalition of western and regional forces
carried out raids in the countryside to the east and south of Kobani on
Friday night, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
said. One Islamic State vehicle was destroyed. Smoke rises after a mortar shell explosion in the center of Kobani.Photograph: Burhan Ozbilici/AP
Friday’s shelling of Kobani was the heaviest yet, according to
Parwer Mohammed Ali, a translator with the Kurdish Democratic Union
Party (PYD) who is inside the town.
“Shelling normally calms at night because Isis is afraid of being
spotted by the jets but last night they continued the severe shelling
and tried to invade,” Parwer said.
Around 90 shells had hit the town and at least two civilians were
killed in Friday’s fighting. Three air strikes were audible from the
south and east of the town on Friday evening, Parwer said.
Isis stepped up its offensive close to the Turkish border last month,
seizing surrounding villages and advancing to within a few miles of
Kobani, which is also known as Ayn al-Arab. Its capture would allow Isis
to consolidate its hold on swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq.
Although there is little evidence of a firm alliance yet between IS
and al-Qaida-linked Taliban commanders, Isis activists have been spotted
recently in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, distributing pamphlets
praising the group, and Isis flags have been seen at street rallies in
Indian-administered Kashmir.
Swift offensives by Isis since June have sent shockwaves through
Syria and Iraq and attracted thousands of so-called “foreign fighters”
to their cause.
The US, with support from western and regional allies, has carried
out a series of bombing raids to halt the insurgents’ rapid advance.
No comments:
Post a Comment