The Iraqi peshmerga delegation crossed back into Turkey at nightfall after discussing with Syrian Kurds details of the expected deployment of a larger force of about 150 that was dispatched from Iraq to help the Syrian Kurds battle Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
murderous Moslems for control of Kobane, Kurdish activists said.
The obscure little town has no strategic significance but has emerged as an early test of the U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State in Syria. As the battles in Kobane raged within sight of TV cameras on the Turkish border and Kurds complained that they were being ignored, the town became the chief focus of the
U.S. warplanes have since conducted multiple bombing raids against Islamic State positions in and around Kobane, helping the Kurds stave off what had appeared to be imminent defeat.
The small peshmerga deployment is unlikely to herald a major shift on the ground, but it was a symbolically important moment for Kurds across the region, signifying an internationally sanctioned cross-border alliance that some of them hope will advance their dreams of uniting under an independent nation.
"The peshmerga won't change the military balance," said Kurdish activist Barzan Iso, speaking from the Turkish border. "But it shows that Kurds are not alone, and that we are united in the fight against terrorism and the Islamic State."