ARBIL: Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers approved a plan on Wednesday to send fighters to the Syrian town of Kobani to relieve fellow Kurds under attack by Islamic State (IS) militants, marking the semi-autonomous region’s first military foray into Syria’s war.

Kobani lies on the border with Turkey and IS fighters keen to consolidate territorial gains in northern Syria have pressed an offensive against the town even as US-led forces started bombing their positions.

The battle has also taken on major political significance for Turkey, where the siege has sparked protests among Kurds and threatened a peace process with Turkey’s own Kurdish insurgents, who are angry at the government for failing to aid Kobani.

Under pressure to go beyond humanitarian assistance for those fleeing the violence, Turkey said on Monday it would allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters, known as “peshmerga” or those who confront death, to cross its territory to reach Kobani.

Pentagon confirms one of its bundles of weapons was seized by IS

Iraqi Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Haji Omer said the Kurdish parliament approved the plan in a session on Wednesday. “Today in parliament we agreed to send the peshmerga forces to Kobani as soon as possible,” he said.

Iraqi Kurdish official Hemin Hawrami said on Twitter the peshmerga would be equipped with heavy weapons. This would help the besieged fighters, who say they need armour-piercing weapons to fight the better-armed IS militants.

Gunshots rang out throughout the day and an air strike occurred near the centre of the Kobani in the early afternoon, while five Kurdish fighters were buried in the Turkish border town of Suruc to defiant speeches and Kurdish songs.

Idris Nassan, a local Kurdish official, said clashes had taken place in the east, southeast and southwest of Kobani.

“They (IS) are always bringing more people and weapons from the surrounding areas and also from (the Syrian province of) Raqqa and Iraq. It’s obvious every time they attack,” he said.

One resident who visited Kobani said IS fighters were still in control of the town centre.

The pro-IS Amaq News Agency released a video of fighters speaking from what they said was the centre of Kobani, claiming that their morale was high and that they were advancing despite coalition air strikes.

Two senior Kurdish officials said late on Tuesday that preparations were under way to send a small number of peshmerga to Kobani, known in Arabic as Ayn al-Arab, but it would take several days until the necessary arrangements were in place.

The United States said on Sunday it had air dropped medical supplies and weapons to Kurds in Kobani provided by Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) — a move Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan criticised on Wednesday because IS fighters managed to seize some of the weapons.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday two bundles of military supplies for Kurdish fighters in Kobani went astray during an air drop earlier this week, with one destroyed later by an air strike and the other taken by IS militants.

Twenty-six other bundles of supplies were dropped to Kurds in the city and reached their targets.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2014