Cyprus-Forum.com

[Tim Drayton]

According to the following article (in German), 15-year-old Sabina and 17-year-old Samra from Vienna, who went of to Syria in search of "Jihad" in April have made contact with their parents, saying they want out and to come back home - although experts say this is well nigh impossible at the moment:

http://www.rp-online.de/panorama/auslan ... -1.4584257

There is another factor that may come into play - a collapse of morale in DAESH ranks. How cold does it get in winter in that region, I wonder?

[Tim Drayton]

I have just checked out the climate in DAESH's de-facto capital of Raqqa. OK, it doesn't go below freezing, but how will these self-styled heroes from pampered Western backgrounds feel when it gets down to a chilly two-and-a-half degrees in the middle of the winter if they are in accommodation without heating. The morale factor may increasingly come into play.

www.levoyageur.net/weather-city-RAQQA.html

[B25]

Never mind IS in Syria, Iraq or other Mid east country, you should worry more here:
http://qpolitical.com/her-town-was-inva ... onts-them/

Already in the UK and the UK Government can do sweet FA about it. Just wait until one of these MFs gets a gun or bomb.

[kurupetos]

Silly sods... they are dying because of their ignorance and stupidity.

[Tim Drayton]

The UN special envoy to Syria has warned that up to 700 people, mainly elderly, are still trapped in the Syrian border town of Kobane.
Staffan de Mistura also urged Turkey to allow in volunteers to Syria to defend the town from Islamic State militants.

[...]

He said the civilians would "most likely massacred'' if the town fell to IS, warning that the UN did not want to see another Srebrenica - where thousands of Muslim men and boys were killed by Bosnian Serb forces in 1995 during the Bosnian conflict.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29570734

[Tim Drayton]

While the thoughts of all civilised human beings must be with the people of Kobane who are facing genocide, the domestic ramifications in Turkey continue to unfold. The youth wing of the Kurdish separatist PKK movement has apparently given the order to attack on sight all members of the fundamentalist movement Hizbullah (which I think is different from the movement with the same name in Lebanon), believed to be behind the cold blooded murders of protesters this week, and the police have now launched a major operation in the large Kurdish city of Diyarbakır and are arresting large numbers of PKK youth wing members.

[Tim Drayton]

According to the BBC radio news this morning, DAESH cutthroats are in control of a large part of Kobane. The battle is not over yet, but it will be a black day for humanity if this town does fall. There is not much the Americans can do from the air once hand-to-hand fighting in the streets starts. It seems to me that American bombing of DAESH positions started too late and when they had already got too close - assuming the real aim was to save Kobane in the first place.

[Tim Drayton]

A picture speaks a thousand words. An elderly anti-DAESH protester is led away by Turkish riot police. The banner she is holding reads: "SALUTATIONS TO THOSE FIGHTING FOR PEACE! # HUMANITY RESIST":

[Paphitis]

According to the BBC radio news this morning, DAESH cutthroats are in control of a large part of Kobane. The battle is not over yet, but it will be a black day for humanity if this town does fall. There is not much the Americans can do from the air once hand-to-hand fighting in the streets starts. It seems to me that American bombing of DAESH positions started too late and when they had already got too close - assuming the real aim was to save Kobane in the first place.

Yes it might be a very dark day. The Kurds fought very valiantly and are reportedly bunkered down to a small part of the city center.

If they fall, we will sadly see the genocide of around 10,000 to 15000 Kurds (some civilians). ISIL should understand, that if there are no friendlies in the area, then the coalition has the green light to level the town completely and kill everyone within it. If they kill all the Kurds, then the coalition will kill 5,000 ISIL.

Meanwhile, Turkish Tanks are on the border!

[Tim Drayton]

An interesting and hopeful development if true, especially as the leadership of the autonomous Kurdish region of Rojova has aligned itself with the Assad regime:

"Free Syrian Army Rebels Join Forces With Kurds To Fight ISIS* In Kobane"

http://www.ibtimes.com/free-syrian-army ... ne-1702500

*ISIS had been deemed un-Islamic by the vast majority of Muslims in the world and is not a state, so it does not deserve the first two letters of this widely misused acronym. This genocidal group is known in Arabic using the acronym DAESH, which does not award this murderous group such false recognition.