Syrian rebels enter Kobane from Turkey to fight IS

Around 50 Syrian opposition fighters entered the predominantly Kurdish city of Kobane from the Turkish border Wednesday to join the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorists, a monitoring group said.

The fighters, who belong to Syrian opposition factions, crossed the border that separates Turkey from Kobane Wednesday with their weaponry, Xinhua reported citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It is still unclear how the Kurdish fighters in Kobane, also known as Ayn al-Arab, agreed to allow in Syrian fighters into the city after the Kurdish leaders rejected the idea earlier this week.

Observers believe it was part of the deal in which Ankara agreed to allow Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters to cross into Kobane via Turkish soil.

The IS unleashed its wide-scale offensive against Kobane bordering Turkey Sep 15 in a bid to capture the city, which would enable the IS to link its self-declared capital of al-Raqqa province with Kobane and stretch its territory to areas bordering Turkey.

The IS has captured more than 300 villages around the city and managed to storm parts of it after forcing over 160,000 people to flee toward neighbouring Turkey.