Turkey Says Kurdish Peshmerga Fighters Yet to Cross to Syria

Turkey said Tuesday Kurdish peshmerga fighters based in Iraq have yet to cross into Syria from Turkish territory, a day after announcing it was assisting their transit to join the battle for the town of Kobane.

"The peshmerga have yet to cross from Turkey to Kobane and this issue is still being discussed," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told NTV television, without giving further details.

Cavusoglu announced Monday that Turkey was helping the Kurdish peshmerga cross into Syria from Turkey to reinforce Kurdish fighters battling to stop the Syrian border town of Kobane falling to jihadists.

It was seen as a major switch in policy by Turkey, which until now has refused to interfere in the over month-long battle for Kobane between Syrian Kurdish fighters and Islamic State (IS) jihadists.

Cavusoglu said that the details of the reinforcement were still being worked out between the Democratic Union Party (PYD) -- the Syrian Kurdish group which controlled Kobane until the IS advance -- and the peshmerga.

"We are waiting for PYD and peshmerga to discuss the issue and reach an agreement," said Cavusoglu. "We will take the necessary steps once the conditions are met."

He added that no decision has been taken yet on how many peshmerga will be allowed to cross into Syria or by which route.

"It might be either ground or air," he said.

Ankara is studying three routes for the peshmerga to come to Turkey and then on to Kobane, sources have said.

They could travel by air to the Turkish city of Sanliurfa or by land through the Habur border crossing in Iraq, or the Ceylanpinar crossing in eastern Syria.

Syrian Kurdish fighters trained by the peshmerga in Iraq could be sent in a first batch, followed by the Iraqi peshmerga themselves.

Turkey has until now refused to allow Kurdish fighters to cross its border to join the battle against IS militants for Kobane, fearing the creation of a powerful Kurdish fighting force straddling the Syria-Turkey border.

Turkish security forces have been waging a 30-year conflict with the fighters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), whose battle for self-rule in the southeast has left 40,000 people dead.

However, Turkey in recent years has built up strong relations with the Kurdish authorities in the Kurdistan region of Iraq who control the peshmerga forces.

Cavusoglu also said while Turkey was prepared to support the peshmerga it was against assisting the PYD, which Ankara regards as PKK's Syrian branch.

Reaffirming Turkey's desire to see the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Cavusoglu said the anti-regime Free Syrian Army (FSA) should be be helped to take part in the defence of Kobane.

"In order to save Kobane, the FSA should be supported and reinforced. We are against plans to massively support the PYD," he said.

Turkey's animosity towards the PYD puts it at odds with the United States, which favours supporting the group to fight against IS militants.

"We... made clear to the Turks that we believe it's incredibly important to support groups like the PYD," said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf, adding that Washington did not believe the PYD was an equivalent of the PKK.

Earlier on Tuesday Kurdish fighters in the battleground Syrian town of Kobane weathered an onslaught by Islamic State group militants as they waited for promised reinforcements.

Fighting continued in Kobane but appeared to have lessened after a fierce attack by IS fighters, including suicide bombers, late on Monday, witnesses and monitors said.

IS forces based in the east of the town were exchanging fire with Kurdish militia in the west and there were reports of an explosion, probably a car bomb, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

Kobane has become a crucial symbolic battleground in the war against IS, which is fighting to extend areas under its control in Iraq and Syria where it has declared an Islamic "caliphate".

Ankara announced on Monday that it would help Kurdish forces from Iraq to relieve Kobane's beleaguered defenders, in a major shift of policy that was swiftly welcomed by Washington.

Iraqi Kurdish officials have said they will provide the training, although any forces sent will be Syrian Kurds.

A local Kurdish official, Idris Nassen, told AFP Kobane was relatively calm on Tuesday, adding that no reinforcements had yet arrived and they did not have "any idea" when they would.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu confirmed that Kurdish fighters had yet to cross from Turkey to Kobane, telling NTV television "the issue is still being discussed".

The U.S. administration has stepped up its commitment to Kobane in recent days, with Secretary of State John Kerry saying it would be "irresponsible" and "morally very difficult" not to help.

Three C-130 cargo aircraft carried out what the U.S. military called "multiple" successful drops of supplies early on Monday, including arms provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq.

A U.S.-led coalition has carried out more than 140 air strikes against IS targets around Kobane, but it was the first time it had delivered arms to the town's defenders.

Coalition aircraft carried out further strikes during the night, said the Britain-based Observatory, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.

IS lost at least five of its militants to air strikes on Monday and a further 12 in ground fighting, including two suicide bombers, the monitoring group said.

Five Kurdish fighters were also killed.

The British government, which has joined coalition air strikes against IS in Iraq, said Tuesday it would deploy drones to conduct surveillance on the group in Syria.

In spite of the Kobane operation, U.S. commanders said the top priority remains Iraq, where IS swept through much of the Sunni Arab heartland north and west of Baghdad in June, and both government and Kurdish forces are under pressure.

The jihadists attacked the Kurdish-controlled town of Qara Tapah on Monday, killing at least 10 people and prompting half of its population of 9,000 to flee.

"We are afraid IS will encircle us and turn this town into a second Amerli," said one resident, referring to a mainly Shiite Turkmen town further north which was besieged by IS for two months over the summer.

Since last week, the Iraqi capital has also seen a rise in the number of bomb attacks, several of which have been claimed by IS.

Two car bombs exploded Tuesday in a Shiite area of northeast Baghdad, killing at least 12.

The violence has raised fears IS will attack large gatherings of Shiite worshipers during the upcoming Ashura commemorations, the target of devastating bombings in past years.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi meanwhile described IS as "a threat to the entire region" while in Tehran for talks with his Shiite ally.

IS holds towns just a few miles (kilometers) from the Iranian border, and Tehran has been a key backer of Baghdad's efforts to hold them back.

According to a senior Iraqi Kurdish official, Iran has deployed troops on the Iraqi side of the border in the Khanaqin area northeast of Baghdad.

Iranian forces also played a role in breaking the siege of Amerli, another senior Kurdish official said.

But Abadi on Monday ruled out any foreign ground intervention to assist government forces in retaking territory lost to jihadists.

"No ground forces from any superpower, international coalition or regional power will fight here," Abadi told reporters.

"This is my decision, it is the decision of the Iraqi government, he said.

In Syria, IS posted a video on YouTube appearing to show a Syrian man taking part in stoning his daughter to death for alleged adultery.

The Observatory said the execution took place in August or September in an IS-controlled rural area in the east of the central province of Hama.

It was the latest in a spate of videotaped executions that the jihadists have posted on social media as they impose their extreme version of Islamic sharia law on areas under their control.