Syrian Kurds 'halt ISIL push' near Turkey

Rasa - Kurdish forces engage in clashes with ISIL fighters near city of Kobane, as more than 130,000 Kurds have fled to Turkey.

News ID: 1208

Date: 22 September 2014 - 20:57

RNA - Reports say syrian Kurdish fighters have stopped the advance of ISIL terrorist state in northern Syria near the Turkish border.

The Kurdish forces engaged in heavy clashes with ISIL fighters on Monday, as the group laid siege on an area east of the city of Kobane in Aleppo province, a spokesman said.

According to the local media, more than 130,000 Syrian Kurds have fled across the border into Turkey, escaping the advance by ISIL, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said, warning that the number would probably rise.

According to the Al-Jazeera news network, the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, on Saturday said that as many as hundreds of thousands of refugees might flee.

"We are ready for the worst scenario," Kurtulmus said. "The number of displaced people has not reached that level, but we will do everything to welcome those entering Turkey."

Until the ISIL assault, Kobane, the third biggest Kurdish population centre in Syria, had been relatively safe, sheltering 200,000 people displaced from elsewhere in Syria.

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