Kurdish Ammo Runs Low in Kobani as Turkey Controls Exit
By Selcan Hacaoglu Oct 9, 2014 10:10 AM ET
Kurds defending Kobani risk running out of ammunition as Islamic State surrounds the town and Turkey controls their only outlet, according to a Kurdish lawmaker in Turkey and observers of the fighting in Syria.
While Islamic State exploits supply lines through Syria to Iraq, where they’ve seized U.S.-made weaponry abandoned by the Iraqi army, Kobani’s Kurds are encircled on three sides with their backs pressed up against Turkey’s border. That leaves them largely dependent for resupply on a country that brands them as terrorists, defining them as a threat equal to that posed by the Islamist extremists they’re fighting.
Turkish control over the narrowing supply routes for Kobani raises questions about how long the Kurds can hold out against their well-equipped foes. The town’s defenders are militiamen of the YPG, an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, the separatist group long viewed as Turkey’s top security threat.
“Turkey must open a corridor for shipment of ammunition to the YPG as well as volunteers to fight,” said Onur Alp, a Kurd who’s been camping near the border with friends from Turkey’s eastern Agri province, looking for an opportunity to sneak across to join the battle for Kobani. “They are running short on ammunition and we don’t know how long they can stand.”
--clip
“Islamists open automatic fire while Kurds are careful to fire single shots,” Faysal Sariyildiz, a Kurdish lawmaker in Turkey’s parliament who’s been monitoring the battle, said in an interview. “They are careful with ammunition since they don’t have logistics supplies like Islamic State.”
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-09/kurds-bullets-run-low-in-kobani-on-islamic-state-arms-su.html
= new reply since forum marked as read