Dozens of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters have been held up in Turkey en route to the Syrian border town of Kobani, where they will join the fight against Islamic State (Isis) militants.
The peshmerga command have not commented on the delay, but Turkish media cited an attack by Isis on Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters crossing into Kobani through the Mürsitpinar border gate as a reason for the delay. According to the newspaper Milliyet, three FSA members were wounded by Isis snipers on Wednesday. They are being treated at a Turkish hospital.
Syrian-Kurdish forces have been defending Kobani against Isis attack since mid-September.
Ten peshmerga officers crossed the Turkish border into Kobani on Wednesday to discuss a strategy for the safe transfer of peshmerga troops and artillery. They have since returned to the peshmerga army camp just south of the Turkish town of Suruç, just north of the Turkey-Syria border.
A convoy of armed peshmerga had arrived in Suruç earlier on Wednesday, meeting others who had flown in. The Kurdish troops have set up a temporary camp in a farming depot just outside of town. Turkish security forces have been deployed to stop local people approaching the depot.
The delay to Kurdish fighters in Suruç has given cause for complaint. A Kurdish medic who accompanied the peshmerga convoy told the Iraqi-Kurdish news agency Rudaw: “There are no facilities in the place we are staying,” Issettin Temo said. “We do not have a bar of soap or a washbasin to wash our hands. We feel like prisoners. We have no connection with the outside world. However, we can do nothing but wait for our guns to reach us.”
In the meantime Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional government (KRG), pledged further support for Kobani.
“Whenever the situation on the ground necessitates [it] and more forces are requested from us and there is passage for them, we will send more forces to protect Kobani and defeat terrorists in western Kurdistan [Syria]”, he said.
Armed Syrian opposition groups were less enthusiastic about more support for the predominantly Kurdish town. Speaking at a press conference in Istanbul on Thursday, an FSA commander condemned the decision to send more rebel forces to Kobani.
“I am criticising this decision because we need these forces in the other fronts in Aleppo. The situation is critical in Aleppo right now, regime forces have been surrounding the city for some time,” Nizar al-Khatib said, adding that 200 FSA rebels have already been fighting alongside Kurdish troops since mid-September. Khatib also demanded more military support from coalition forces.
