Islamic State Flag Raised Above Building In Kobane, Syria (Turkish Border)

[big_dog]

Source: BBC News-1 hour ago

Islamic State flag raised above building in Kobane, Syria

6 October 2014
In Syria, Islamic State extremists are reported to have seized the town of Kobane, near the Turkish border.

Last week, Turkey promised to prevent the town from falling to the militants, and its parliament authorised military operations against them in Iraq and Syria.

Paul Adams reports from the Turkish-Syrian border.


Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29502818

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. If Kobane has fallen, Turkey just developed a severe Kurdish problem.

The chronic problem of the Kurds is about to become acute for Ankara. They view this as a betrayal by Turkey.

Turkish tanks facing Kobane sit idle, while Turkish police and soldiers block Kurds from returning to the fight.

Biden was right about the Turks. He never should have had to apologize.

[big_dog]

2. tanks massing all over the place...

NATO's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg spoke today, claiming that the alliance had 'deployed Patriot missiles in Turkey to enhance and strengthen' the country's air defence.
He added: 'The main responsibility for NATO is to protect all allied countries. Turkey is a NATO ally and our main responsibility is to protect the integrity, the borders of Turkey,' NBC News reports.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2782308/Black-flag-ISIS-raised-outskirts-Syrian-border-town-amid-furious-fighting-jihadists-Kurds-Turkish-tanks-prepare-worst.html

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. ISIS isn't attacking Turkey. And Turkey's tanks are sitting idle as Kobane falls.

I think Turkey and ISIS have an accommodation.

[big_dog]

5. the Kurds are fighting quite bravely, thank goodness they are there...

Arin Mirkan stayed behind to launch surprise attack on advancing militants
It is the first known case of a Kurdish woman launching suicide attack on IS
Twitter tributes claim she has left behind two young children

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2782092/Mystery-surrounds-fate-Kurdish-female-fighter-poster-girl-reports-emerge-killed-bullet-avoid-taken-hostage-ISIS.html#ixzz3FOWMQ81x

Peshmerga poster girl said to have shot herself to avoid capture
Ceylan Ozalp, 19, said to have committed suicide during fighting in Kobane
Turkish media and politicians said she ran out of ammunition and used her final bullet to kill herself rather than face rape and murder at hands of ISIS
However reports have been contradicted by Kurdish forces fighting in Syria
They say she is still alive and continuing to bravely fight against the militants

[leftynyc]

4. I would have thought the

Turkish military would be stronger than this. There doesn't seem to be a competent military force in that region - aside from Israel.

[Baclava]

6. Seems they don't really care...... "just there to watch"

Turkey 'there just to watch' in Kobane

Suruc, Turkey - As ISIL made progress towards the tomb of the Ottoman Empire founder's grandfather, Turkey this week deployed troops along its border with Syria. But locals say: "They are there just to watch."

But while Turkey gears up to play a more robust role in the US-led coalition against ISIL, it has not specifically defined what that role might be - and residents in the area say it is thus far "idle".

"Firstly the Turkish government took a long time to take any action, and now that they are taking action, it is not sufficient. They have just deployed their military to protect their own land here, but are in no way helping the Kurds in this fight," Aslan Mehmoud - a 54-year-old Syrian Kurd from Kobane, who is now living in Mursitpinar while his brothers help fight ISIL - told Al Jazeera.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/10/turkey-there-just-watch-kobane-201410481243432189.html

[leftynyc]

7. So not helping in the slightest

As if isis will respect their border. I guess we should have known they'd do nothing to help the Kurds.

[Baclava]

8. they have their priorities - 'Iraqi Kurds, Turkey to Double Oil Export Pipeline Capacity'

The Kurdish regional government in Iraq and Turkey are working to at least double the capacity of a pipeline that allows the Kurds to export crude oil, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and an industry official said.

A second pump has been installed near Fishkabur in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region to speed up the injection of Kurdish oil into the main Iraq-Turkey pipeline

The added pumping strength “would double the flow of oil from 100,000 to 125,000 barrels per day in the first stage,” Yildiz said in an interview in Ankara. “It would be good if the daily supply capacity can reach 250,000 barrels and even exceed that.”

Turkey has been allowing the sale of Kurdish oil through Ceyhan since May, dismissing legal action by the Iraqi federal government, which calls the trade illegal.

For the Kurds, whose armed forces have played a central role in countering an Islamist insurgency in northern Iraq over the past three months, the oil pipe offers an economic lifeline as they consider moves toward fuller independence from Baghdad.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-20/iraqi-kurds-turkey-to-double-oil-export-pipeline-capacity-1-.html