Syria Kurds Battle Jihadist Advance as Thousands Flee

Kurdish militia fought to defend a key border town in northern Syria on Monday after 130,000 terrified residents fled to Turkey to escape an advance by Islamic State fighters.

Amid calls for a U.S.-led coalition to support the Kurdish fighters with air strikes, the IS group issued a statement urging Muslims to kill Westerners whose countries have joined the campaign.

Pressure meanwhile mounted on Turkey, where security forces again clashed with locals angry at authorities blocking fellow Kurds from joining the battle.

IS fighters have been advancing towards Ain al-Arab, Syria's third-largest Kurdish town and known by the Kurds as Kobane, for nearly a week.

They have seized dozens of villages and -- amid reports of executions and other atrocities -- tens of thousands of refugees have fled into Turkey.

Turkish officials said Monday the number of arrivals had reached 130,000 and more were expected.

But after days of losing ground, Kurdish forces appeared to have slowed the jihadist advance, a monitoring group said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Kurdish forces, backed by Syrian Arab rebels, had intensified their attacks against IS fighters, killing 21 jihadists overnight.

"The progression on the eastern and southern fronts has slowed because of heavy fighting," he told AFP.

"The Kurdish fighters have intensified their attacks since the departure of most of the civilians, and that has obstructed IS from moving further," he said.

IS hopes to seize Ain al-Arab to secure its grip over a long stretch of Syria's northern border with Turkey.

It has battled Kurdish forces in several parts of northern and western Syria, viewing the minority as apostates, even though they are also Sunni Muslims, because of their secular outlook.

The Observatory said Monday the jihadists had seized at least 64 villages around Ain al-Arab and executed at least 16 Kurds.

The PKK Kurdish rebel group in Turkey has called on Kurds to cross into Syria to help in the battle, but Turkish officials have tightly controlled the border.

After an initial flood at the weekend when border guards cut barbed wire on the border, Ankara has limited entries to only three crossings and prevented some from going into Syria.

Several hundred Kurdish protesters clashed with security forces not far from the border on Monday, after similar clashes the day before, an AFP correspondent said.

Security forces again fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse the protesters, angry at Turkey's blocking of Kurds trying to enter Syria.

Some of the refugees were also beginning to voice frustration over what they said was a lack of proper assistance from Turkish authorities.

"We are living in terrible conditions," said Celal Hemze, who with his wife and children has been sleeping in fields for several days.

"The Turks aren't doing much for us. I called those in my family who are still in Kobane and told them to stay put. They are surely better off there than we are here."

Syrian opposition officials and Kurdish activists have called for international intervention by the U.S.-led coalition assembled to fight IS, but there has been no sign yet of Washington expanding its air campaign in Iraq to Syria.

Washington has said it would consider strikes against IS in Syria, even without permission from Damascus, but its U.N. envoy said Sunday "no decisions" had been taken.

Ambassador Samantha Power also predicted that Washington "will not do the air strikes alone if the president decides to do the air strikes".

More than 50 countries have signed up to the US-led coalition against IS, including Australia, whose Defense Minister David Johnston said in Baghdad on Monday that fighter jets were being deployed.

"We will provide a number of military platforms, up to eight Super Hornet aircraft to participate in a U.S.-led coalition in delivering air strikes," he told reporters after meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Abadi reiterated in a statement after the talks that Iraq opposes the deployment of foreign ground forces in the country as part of the effort.

The IS group has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq, declared an Islamic "caliphate" in areas under its control and committed widespread atrocities including beheadings and crucifixions.

In a statement posted online Monday, IS spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani said Muslims should seek out and kill Westerners whose countries have joined the coalition, in particular Americans and the French after their countries carried out strikes in Iraq.

"If you can kill a disbelieving American or European... including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him," he said.

France sought to reassure its citizens after the call, with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve saying: "France is not afraid... France is prepared to respond to their threat."