Heavy Fighting Reported Sunday in Kobani, Syria

Kurdish fighters are holding off the advance of Islamic State 
militants in Kobani, Syria, but heavy fighting is continuing 
for control of the city near the Turkey border....

The U.S. military command said its fighter jets, along with those from Saudi Arabia 
and the United Arab Emirates, conducted four airstrikes Saturday and Sunday in Kobani, destroying one of the insurgents' fighting positions and a staging area.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the jihadists were 
sustaining heavy casualties in the fighting.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said "thousands of live are at stake" 
in the fighting for control of Kobani. He called on the warring sides "to prevent 
a massacre and protect civilians."

Dark plumes of smoke could be seen rising above the city Sunday as Kurdish 
fighters battled to defend the city from the continuing onslaught 
by Islamic State extremists.

Turkish troops remain disengaged just across the border, despite increasingly 
vocal international pressure on Turkish President Recep 
Tayyip Erdogan to intervene.

Massacre warning

U.N. officials in the region have warned that as many as 12,000 Kurds, 
including hundreds of elderly people in the city's center, "will most likely 
be massacred" if Kobani falls.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Islamic 
State extremists controlled 40 percent of the town by early Saturday.   

The Turkish government has so far refused to join the battle, citing ties 
between Kobani's Kurdish defenders and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party.

The PKK has waged a decades-long rebellion for self-rule in southeastern Turkey 
and has been designated a terrorist organization by Ankara and Washington.

Addressing Turkey's reluctance to help Syrian Kurd fighters, U.S. Defense Secretary 
Chuck Hagel said Saturday that Washington is making "considerable progress" 
in talks with Ankara on plans to train moderate Syrian fighters.

Hagel, speaking in the Chilean capital, said U.S. talks in the coming days 
with Turkish military officials will focus on specifics of Turkey's 
training commitments.

Hagel added that the situation in Kobani is difficult and complicated. 
But he said Iraqi security forces are in full control of Baghdad and continue 
to strengthen their positions there.

Hold Iraq, Syria ground

Islamic State fighters also control large swaths of nearby northern 
and western Iraq, where a local council leader (Sabah Al-Karhout) 
told CNN the situation is "very bad."

He said the council has intelligence that the Islamic State group has 
sent at as many as 10,000 reinforcements to the outskirts of Baghdad 
from Syria and from the Iraqi city of Mosul in the north.

Separately, coalition forces over the weekend conducted five airstrikes 
against the Islamic State group in Iraq, using attack 
and remotely piloted aircraft. 

Airstrikes in Syria were conducted by the U.S. as well as Saudi Arabia 
and the United Arab Emirates forces. In Iraq, the U.S. and United 
Kingdom conducted the airstrikes.

voanews.com