Kurds across Turkey have vented their anger at the government’s lack of military support for the defenders of the Syrian border town of Kobane being attacked by Islamic State militants. Police used tear gas and water cannon as unrest spread to at least six cities. One protester has been killed. Turkish troops and tanks have lined the border but have not crossed into Syria. Fresh US-led air strikes have tried to repel IS, but Turkey’s president warned Kobane was “about to fall”. At least 400 people have died in three weeks of fighting for Kobane, monitors say, and 160,000 Syrians have fled. If IS captures Kobane, its jihadists will control a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border. At the scene: BBC’s Paul Adams on Syria-Turkey border This was a day of air strikes. From the early hours of the morning until late afternoon, great columns of black smoke rose from positions around Kobane. The strikes didn’t end the gunfire, but did seem to bring the advance by Islamic State to a juddering halt. At times the town seemed eerily quiet, certainly by contrast with Monday’s furious assault. For the first time, the air strikes seem to be making a difference. But sources inside Kobane are calling for more. They say the don’t want Turkish troops to intervene but are pleading with Turkey to allow armed Kurdish fighters to join them. Of that, in public at least, there is absolutely no sign.— BBC Online
