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29Oct14

Syrian rebels enter Ayn al-Arab from Turkey to fight IS

Around 50 Syrian opposition fighters entered the predominantly Kurdish city of Ayn al-Arab from the Turkish borders on Wednesday to join the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terror group, a monitoring group said.

The fighters, who belong to Syrian opposition factions, crossed the borders that separate Turkey from Ayn al-Arab on Wednesday with their weaponry, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It said that the Peshmerga forces, which have been sent by the Kurdish regional government in Iraq, are expected to cross into Syria later in the day to help their Syrian Kurds brethren in their fight against IS extremists.

A day earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Iraqi Kurdish forces can cross Turkey's territory into Syria at any moment to fight the IS.

It's still unclear how the Kurdish fighters in Ayn al-Arab, also known as Kobane, agreed to allow in Syrian fighters into the city after the Kurdish leaders rejected the idea earlier this week.

Observers believe it was part of the deal, in which Ankara agreed to allow Peshmerga fighters to cross into Ayn al-Arab via Turkish soil.

The IS unleashed its wide-scale offensive against Ayn al-Arab bordering Turkey on Sept. 15 in a bid to capture the city, which would enable the IS to link its self-declared capital of al-Raqqa province with Ayn al-Arab and stretch its territory to areas bordering Turkey.

The IS has captured more than 300 villages around the city and managed to storm parts of it after forcing over 160,000 people to flee toward neighboring Turkey.

[Source: Xinhua, Damascus, 29Oct14]
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