Kobani air drops likely to anger Turkish government, which opposes sending arms to Kurdish rebels in Syria,
Associated Press
Smoke rises following a strike in Kobani, Syria, during fighting between Syrian Kurds and Islamic State militants. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP The US military says it has airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Kurdish forces defending the Syrian city of Kobani against Islamic State militants.
The air drops on Sunday were the first of their kind and followed weeks of US and coalition air strikes in and near Kobani, near the Turkish border. The US earlier said it had launched 11 air strikes overnight in the Kobani area.
Meanwhile Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that Turkey was facilitating the passage of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters to Kobani. Cavusoglu did not provide details on the transfer of the fighters.
In a statement on Sunday night, US Central Command said US C-130 cargo planes made multiple drops of arms and supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq. It said they were intended to enable continued resistance to Islamic State efforts to take full control of Kobani.
The air drops are almost certain to anger the Turkish government, which has said it would oppose any US arms transfers to the Kurdish rebels in Syria. Turkey views the main Kurdish group in Syria as an extension of the Turkish Kurd group known as the PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terror group by the US and by Nato.
Senior US administration officials said three C-130 planes dropped 27 bundles of small arms, ammunition and medical supplies. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.
One official said that while the results of the mission were still being assessed, it appeared that “the vast majority” of the supplies reached the intended Kurdish fighters.
The official also said the C-130s encountered no resistance from the ground in Syria during their flights in and out of Syrian airspace.
In a written statement, Central Command said its forces had conducted more than 135 air strikes against Islamic State forces in Kobani.
Central Command said: “Combined with continued resistance to Isil on the ground, indications are that these strikes have slowed Isil advances into the city, killed hundreds of their fighters and destroyed or damaged scores of pieces of Isil combat equipment and fighting positions.”