Kurdish fighters halt IS advance in northern Syria

Syria's Kurdish militia managed to push back forces of the Islamic State (IS) militant group Monday, preventing them from advancing into a strategic Kurdish city in northern Syria, a representative for the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union said.

Shivan Kaburi said the Kurdish militia, known as the People's Protection Units or the YPG, blocked IS fighters from entering the city known as Kobani to the Kurds and as Ain al-Arab in Arabic. Kaburi told Xinhua the IS fighters were about 20 km away from the city.

Kobani was surrounded by the IS from three directions, he said, adding that the YPG succeeded in recapturing some of the towns around the city from the IS fighters.

Kaburi, who is now based in the United Arab Emirates, said the Islamic State Islamist militant group wanted to seize control of Kobani to control northern Syria and to "break the will of the Kurds who are opposing to the ideology of the Islamic State".

Meanwhile, Omar Ossi, the chairman of the National Initiative for Syrian Kurds and a member of the Syrian Parliament, told Xinhua that the Syrian air force has been striking the positions of IS fighters near Kobani over the past three days.

The clashes between the IS and the YPG have been continuing since last Tuesday. Reports said the IS fighters were using tanks and heavy artillery in their push toward Kobani.

The IS militants have seized many villages near the city while displacing over 100,000 Kurds, who have sought refuge in neighbouring Turkey.

Earlier, Kurdish leaders implored the Kurds in both Iraq and Turkey to help their fellow Kurds in Syria against the wide-scale offensive by the IS militants.

Masoud Barazani, the president of Iraq's Kurdistan region, Friday urged the international community to "use every means" to protect Kobani.

After the president's appeal, hundreds of Kurdish fighters poured into northern Syria from Turkey and Iraq Saturday to defend the city, reports said.

Syrian Kurds, who largely live in the northern parts of Syria, have reached a deadlock in their fight with IS militants, who have repeatedly tried to storm Kurdish-dominated Syrian areas.

Syria's Kurds account for some 15 percent of the country's 23 million inhabitants.