MURSITPINAR: Fighters of Islamic State (IS) group closed in on Syria’s third-largest Kurdish town on Sunday as tens of thousands of people fled in terror across the border into Turkey.

The UN refugee agency said as many as 70,000 Syrian Kurds had poured into Turkey since Friday, and solidarity protests by Turkish Kurds on the border prompted clashes with security forces.

Syrian Kurdish fighters backed by reinforcements from Turkey are battling to hold off a militant advance on the strategic border town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobane by the Kurds.

The IS group has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria, declaring a “caliphate”, imposing its harsh interpretation of Islamic law and committing widespread atrocities including beheadings and crucifixions.

Local officials have warned of potential massacres should IS fighters advance on Ain al-Arab, and pleaded for an international intervention.

But despite promises by Washington to expand its air campaign against IS in Iraq to Syria, there were no signs yet of US strikes in the country.

UNHCR said it feared the massive influx of refugees would only grow, and said authorities were preparing for the possibility of hundreds of thousands of additional arrivals.

IS fighters have been advancing on Ain al-Arab since late Tuesday, hoping to cement their control over a large part of Syria’s border with Turkey.

On Sunday, they were within 10 kilometres of the town, after capturing more than 60 villages in the area, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

The fighting has killed at least 27 Kurdish militants and 39 IS fighters.

At the border on Sunday, Turkish security forces used tear gas and water cannon to disperse a solidarity protest by Turkish Kurds and later closed most border crossing points in the area, including one used by Kurdish fighters heading to Syria.

Only two posts remain open, and the interior ministry will now register new arrivals.

Mustefa Ebdi, a Kobane resident, local journalist and activist, said the streets of the town — once home to about 50,000 people — were virtually empty.

“Most of the women and children have left Kobane, but there are thousands of Kurdish men who have taken up arms and are ready to defend the city,” he said by telephone, adding that the fighters would have a hard time matching the heavy weapons of IS.

“We need one US airplane to strike those barbarians, where is this international coalition?” he asked. “We are waiting for a miracle.”

The Syrian opposition National Coalition has urged foreign air strikes to “stop mass atrocities”, and Washington has said it would consider extending its air campaign against IS from Iraq to Syria.

American forces have carried out at least 183 strikes against IS in Iraq, where government forces launched an operation on Sunday to rescue an army battalion under attack by militants near the western city of Fallujah.

Iraqi military spokesman Qassem Atta said the operation was backed by US air support.

International outrage has grown over the IS group’s atrocities including the on-camera beheadings of two US journalists and a British aid worker.

The wife of a British taxi driver being held hostage by the militants urged them on Saturday to “see it in their hearts to release my husband”.

Alan Henning, a 47-year-old father of two, volunteered to drive a humanitarian aid convoy to Syria for a charity but was captured 10 months ago by IS.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that dozens of Turkish hostages held by IS militants in Iraq had been freed as a result of negotiations and no ransom had been paid for their release.

Forty-six Turks abducted by IS militants in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul were freed and returned to Turkey on Saturday after more than three months in captivity.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2014