Kobanê is in danger … We call on American forces to hit their positions’: YPG.

KT News:

YPG leaders have again called for US and allied forces to carry out air strikes on ISIS positions that are getting closer to the Kurdish city of Kobanê. Ocalan Iso, deputy leader of the YPG Kurdish forces defending Kobanê, told Reuters that more ISIS mercenaries and tanks had arrived since the U.S.-led coalition began air strikes on the group on Tuesday.

“The number of their fighters has increased, the number of their tanks has increased since the bombardment of Raqqa,” he said. “Kobanê is in danger”.

Iso said ISIS had advanced to within 8 km (5 miles) of the southern periphery of Kobanê – the closest yet in their latest offensive.

“We call on American forces to hit their positions. They are 8 km from Kobanê. They were 25 km away before,” he said.

Ahmed Hassan, 60,  one of tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds who have recently fled across the border to Turkey, told reporters: “Because of the bombing in Raqqa, Islamic State has taken all of their weapons and brought them here. There are more and more Islamic State fighters in the last two days, they have brought all their forces here,”

However, the YPG continues to fiercely resist. Firat quotes a YPG statement today about several villages it has re-captured from the jihadists.

There are reports of air strikes last night on ISIS positions near villages west of Kobanê and close to the Turkish border, but these are not fully confirmed and they have not served to reduce the ISIS pressure on Kobanê, a city of half a million people. Syrian Kurd leaders have called on the US coalition to coordinate its air strikes with YPG fighters who are confronting ISIS on the ground.