Kurds watch in anguish as Islamic State closes in on town despite US strikes

Mursitpinar, Turkey-Syria border: Heavy shelling rocked Kobane as Islamic State militants continued their assault on the besieged Syrian Kurdish border town, the boom of mortars, crack of gunfire and the wail of ambulances echoing across the brown, rural valley.

Three US air raids overnight failed to halt the insurgents' advance, and the Kurdish fighters left inside Kobane say they fear IS plans to stage a symbolic attack on the town's mosque on the eve of the Islamic feast day of Eid al-Adha.

"Da'esh [Islamic State] is now surrounding Kobane on three sides and is just one to two kilometres from the city centre," said Ismet Sheikh Hassan, a commander with the YPG Kurdish militia.

"They vowed to take the mosque in the centre of the town – we have stopped them so far but they are pushing into the city," he says. "We have been fighting them for 20 days . . . we may run out of ammunition in the coming days."

Turkish forces fired tear gas at Turkish and Syrian Kurds who are battling Islamic State militants on the Turkey/Syria border.Credit: Andrew Quilty

Repeated requests to the Turkish army for assistance had gone unanswered, Commander Hassan lamented, as had calls for international assistance.

"Turkey said they would not allow IS to take Kobane, but so far we have not seen them do anything," he said, referring to comments from Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who told ATV "we will do whatever we can so that Kobane does not fall".

Hundreds of refugees from Kobane, also known as Ayn-al Arab, crowded onto a hill on the Turkey-Syria border overlooking the town, desperate to see what was happening to the people and homes they had left behind.

Some, like 50-year-old Ali Kharanan, brought binoculars to watch as the mortars landed with a boom in the town's east and west, sending up puffs of cream-coloured smoke.

"They are turning their backs on a massacre": Turkish troops guard the border with Syria as fighting continues behind them.Credit: Andrew Quilty

"I have been coming here every day for 10 days . . . I cannot look away," he said sadly as another shell struck. "They are my people."

Turkish soldiers were out in force along the border on Saturday, firing volleys of tear gas to push back the crowd as dozens of men ran towards the crossing in an attempt to get back into Syria and help those in the besieged town.

A man runs from tear gas fired by Turkish armed forces on the Turkish side of the border with Syria.Credit: Andrew Quilty

Hundreds more Kurds gathered on nearby hilltops and around the local and international media who have set up a temporary base on the hill closest to the border.

They too were driven away by the Turkish military and special forces, who used water cannons to disperse the crowd, attacking protesters while just a couple of kilometres across the border the Islamic State closed in on Kobane.

Turkish and Syrian Kurds watch the fighting for the Syrian town of Kobane (also known as Ayn al-Arab) from a vantage point on the Turkish side of the border.Credit: Andrew Quilty

"Why are they attacking us when they could be helping the people of Kobane?" one protester asked, his eyes streaming from tear gas that hung in the air. "They are turning their backs on a massacre."

The hundreds of Turkish troops and dozens of tanks and armoured personnel carriers stationed along this border showed no signs of intervening to stop Kobane falling, despite a vote in Turkey's parliament late last week providing formal approval for military intervention.

Turkish and Syrian Kurds protest against Turkish attempts to disperse them as fighting between Islamic State and Kurdish militias continues on the Syrian side of the border.Credit: Andrew Quilty

If Kobane does fall, it will give IS control of a significant stretch of the border as well as the nearly 300 kilometres from the border to Hassaka province.

At least 160,000 Syrians, most of them of Kurdish ethnicity, have fled the area since IS began its assault on Kobane on September 15 as militants took control of dozens of smaller villages surrounding the town.

But the flow of refugees had slowed to a trickle on Saturday as the fighting intensified and families bunkered down for the Eid holiday.

Men in one of the few trucks that left the border for the nearby Turkish town of Suruc said the situation inside Kobane was getting more desperate by the day.

"People are dying all around us, the shelling is coming close and closer," Abdallah said, warning that food, water and other supplies were also running low. "Our animals are also dying, cows, sheep and goats, because we cannot stay to care for them, to give them food and water."

Militants had blocked the water pipes into the town and attacked the electricity substations and at least one major fuel station, he said, effectively shutting down all major infrastructure in the area.