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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| At high tide in fight for Kobani, Obama calls Erdogan |
| 2014-10-20 |
| [JPOST] The fight between Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... and Western allies for the Syrian border city of Kobani intensified over the weekend, as Islamic State forces bore down on three sides and shelled Kurdish strongholds within. Eye witness reports indicate that municipality buildings, as well as a market place, were targeted. The group fired 44 shells, some of which hit Turkish territory, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The US-led air coalition over Syria engaged in the battle by striking Islamic State targets around Kobani at least six times. With dozens of countries across Europe and the Middle East participating in strikes, the campaign has focused on Kobani more than any other city or asset, including Erbil and the djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... Dam in Iraq at the launch of the campaign. Turkey, however, has yet to participate, a month into the battle over a city in its sights across the border. Ankara wants coalition partners to also target the regime of Bashir al-Assad, the embattled president of Syria at the center of the civil war there that has killed over 200,000 people. After fighting intensified on Saturday, US President Barack Obama My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it... spoke with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan by phone on Sunday to discuss the battle and to strategize "steps that could be taken to counter [Islamic State] advances," according to the White House. "The two leaders pledged to continue to work closely together to strengthen cooperation against [Islamic State]," the White House said in a readout. But the weekend was also marked by a series of suicide kabooms from Kobani to Baghdad, Iraq, where Islamic State first mastered the boom-mobile-- or vehicle borne improvised bomb (VBIED)-- in its original incarnation as al Qaeda in Iraq in 2004. Two such boom-mobiles were detonated in Kobani on Sunday, targeting Kurdish positions. The city is predominantly Kurd and has provided refuge to minorities across Syria fleeing the civil war there. And in Baghdad on Sunday, one jacket wallah killed 19 and maimed 28 others outside a Shi'ite mosque, where mourners were attending a funeral. Islamic State has not yet taken credit for the attack. But it comes among a marked spike in suicide kabooms in Baghdad since a US-led coalition began bombing the group across Iraq and Syria last month. "The attacker approached the entrance of the mosque and went kaboom!among the crowd," one police officer said. The mosque is reportedly intact. |
| Posted by:Fred |