A coalizão comandada pelos Estados Unidos contra o grupo Estado Islâmico bombardeou posições dos extremistas na cidade de Kobani, na fronteira da Síria com a Turquia, nesta quinta-feira. Esse foi um dos ataques aéreos mais intensos realizados pelos aliados desde o início da campanha, segundo avaliação de autoridades curdas e de ativistas.
Apesar dos bombardeiros durante a madrugada e na manhã desta quinta-feira, o Estado Islâmico conseguiu capturar uma delegacia na região leste da cidade, afirmou o Observatório Sírio pelos Direitos Humanos, com sede em Londres. A unidade policial foi então atacada pelos aliados e destruída.
Segundo a entidade, que acompanha a guerra na Síria por meio de informações de ativistas locais, os militantes agora controlam um terço de Kobani. A informação, no entanto, é negada por um porta-voz dos curdos, Idriss Nassan. Ele confirma que os extremistas tomaram controle da unidade policial e que esta foi demolida, mas diz que o Estado Islâmico detém “apenas uma pequena parte de Kobani”.
Nassan e o Observatório confirmam que mais de vinte bombardeios foram registrados nos arredores da cidade desde a tarde da quarta-feira.
A luta por Kobani trouxe a guerra civil da Síria mais uma vez às portas da Turquia. Por isso, aliados tentam convencer Ancara a adotar uma posição mais firme na coalizão de ataque ao Estado Islâmico. Também fazem críticas de que o governo turco permanece com seus tanques estacionados na fronteira com a Síria, perto da cidade sob ataque, sem agir.
O ministro de Relações Exteriores da Turquia, Mevlut Cavusoglu, disse nesta quinta-feira que é irreal esperar que o país inicie um ataque terrestre contra os extremistas sem apoio externo. Cavusoglu discursou em uma coletiva de imprensa com o dirigente da Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte (Otan), Jens Stoltenberg, que, por sua vez, ressaltou a importância da união da comunidade internacional no combate ao Estado Islâmico.
No evento, Cavusoglu disse ainda que a Turquia está preparada para assumir um papel maior, quando chegar a um acordo com a coalizão liderada pelos EUA.
Os militantes começaram a atacar Kobani em setembro, capturando diversos vilarejos próximos até sitiar a cidade. O conflito fez com que ao menos 200 mil habitantes da região fugissem pela fronteira com a Turquia. Fonte: Associated Press.
MURSITPINAR, Turkey (AP) _ The U.S.-led coalition pounded positions of the
Islamic State group in the Syrian border town of Kobani on Thursday in some of
the most intensive strikes in the air campaign so far, a Kurdish official and
an activist group said.
But despite the airstrikes overnight and into the morning, the Islamic State
fighters managed to capture a police station in the east of the town, said the
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The station was later hit
by coalition jets and destroyed.
The Observatory, a group that tracks Syria’s civil war through a network of
activists on the ground, said the militants were now in control of more than
third of the strategic border town.
The fighting over Kobani has brought Syria’s civil war yet again to Turkey’s
doorstep and allies have tried to press Ankara to take a more robust role in
the U.S.-led coalition to fight the Islamic State group. There has also been
criticism that Turkey has stood by idly with its tanks parked just across the
frontier from the Syrian Kurdish town.
Responding to such criticism, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said
Thursday that it was unrealistic to expect Turkey to launch a ground war
against the Islamic State group on its own.
Cavusoglu spoke at a news conference in Ankara with visiting NATO chief Jens
Stoltenberg, who said that there is no easy solution to push back the siege on
Kobani.
“ISIL poses a grave threat to the Iraqi people, to the Syrian people, to the
wider region, and to NATO nations,” Stoltenberg said, using an acronym for
the Islamic State group. “So it is important that the whole international
community stays united in this long-term effort.”
Cavusoglu said that Turkey is prepared to take on a bigger role once a deal is
reached with the U.S.-led coalition. “Turkey will not hold back from carrying
out its role,” he said.
Islamic State militants launched their offensive on Kobani in mid-September,
capturing several nearby Kurdish villages and steadily tightening their noose
around the town since then. The fighting has also forced at least 200,000 town
residents and villagers from the area to flee across the frontier into Turkey.
However, Idriss Nassan, an official with Kobani’s Kurdish government, denied
the militants were in control of a third of the town on Thursday.
He confirmed that the Kobani police station was taken by the Islamic State
group but he said it was later destroyed in an airstrike. He said the Kurdish
fighters managed to regain several other town areas on Thursday.
“I can confirm that they don’t control a third of the city. There is only a
small part of Kobani under the control of Daesh,” said Nassan, using the
Arabic acronym to refer to the Islamic State group.
Both Nassan and the Observatory said more than 20 airstrikes have been
conducted in the area since Wednesday afternoon.
The Observatory’s chief, Rami Abdurrahman, said that more than 500 people have
been killed in and around Kobani since the fighting began in September.
Also on Thursday, the Islamic State group brought reinforcements from their
stronghold in the border town of Jarablous and the town of Manbij and Aleppo
province, Abdurrahman sid.