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Peshmerga forces arrive in Kobane

First contingent of Iraqi Kurdish fighters crosses border into town

Ten Kurdish Peshmerga fighters from Iraq entered the embattled Syrian border town of Kobane from Turkey at around noon today, defying efforts by the so-called Islamic State (Isis) to surround the town.

Isis forces battled overnight to capture the border crossing point, the only gateway in and out of Kobane.

Had they succeeded, they could have prevented the arrival of reinforcements, of which the 10 Iraqi Peshmerga are the advance guard of 150 Kurdish troops on their way to Kobane.

"The first 10 are now with the People's Protection Units (YPG) and they include doctors and fighters and the rest are expected to enter in the coming hours at night," said Kobane-based activist Mustafa Bali.

The YPG is the main resistance force in the predominantly Kurdish regions of northern Syria.

The remaining Peshmerga forces waited in a facility on the outskirts of the border town of Suruc, about seven miles from the border with Syria, on a road that leads to the border crossing in the village of Mursitpinar.

The mission of the Peshmerga troops is to help Kurdish fighters inside Kobane break the siege by Isis forces who attacked the town six weeks ago.

Although warplanes of the US-led coalition have hit Isis targets, the absence of heavy weaponry, including anti-tank weapons, has hampered the YPG resistance.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's political adviser Bouthaina Shaaban accused Turkey yesterday of committing aggression against the country by allowing 50 Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels to cross into Kobane earlier this week.

"I see that Turkey is continuing in its role of aggression against Syria and its very dangerous role in the region," he said.

Mr Shaaban suggested that Ankara was trying to revive the influence it once enjoyed as the dominant power of the 600-year-old Ottoman Empire that collapsed early last century.

He accused the Recep Tayyip Erdogan government of not caring about saving the Kurds.

Mr Shaaban described the Kurds as fighting terrorism, saying that Isis was "part of the terrorism that we warned against for years now."

He said that Damascus still welcomed a negotiated solution to the conflict, though there were no political initiatives being discussed so far.

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