{At LEAST 500 civilians trapped in the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani are likely to be \u201cmassacred\u201d if it falls to the Islamic State (IS) group, the United Nations envoy to Syria warned yesterday.}<\/p>\n
Staffan de Mistura invoked the lessons of 20th century genocides during a news conference in Geneva, as he held up a map of the town along the Syria-Turkey border and said the international community must act to save people caught up in the battle for Kobani.<\/p>\n
His warning came as IS pushed into the town from the south and east, taking over most of the \u201cKurdish security quarter\u201d \u2013 where Kurdish militia struggling to defend the town have security buildings and facilities.<\/p>\n
The IS onslaught on Kobani, which began in mid-September, has forced more than 200,000 people to flee into Turkey. Activists say more than 500 have been killed in the fighting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city is in danger,\u201d said Farhad Shami, a Kurdish activist in Kobani. He reported heavy fighting to the south and east and said IS was bringing in reinforcements. US-led air strikes appear to have failed to blunt the IS push on Kobani. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said IS now controlled 40 per cent of the town.<\/p>\n
The Observatory said an IS suicide bomber blew up his car near the mosque west of the security quarter yesterday, but there was no word of casualties.<\/p>\n
The US Central Command said the coalition conducted nine air strikes in Syria on Thursday and yesterday. It said strikes near Kobani destroyed two IS training facilities, as well as vehicles and tanks. Another strike in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour \u2013 controlled by IS \u2013 des\u00adtroyed an IS armoured vehicle staging facility, it said.<\/p>\n
The militants shelled Kobani\u2019s single border crossing with Turkey in an effort to seal off the town, a Kurdish official and local activists said. The official, Idriss Nassan, said IS fighters aim to encircle Kobani.<\/p>\n
Gunfire and explosions could be heard from across the border in Turkey, and plumes of smoke were seen rising in the distance. The Observatory said IS shelled several parts of the town, including the border crossing.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaesh is doing all it can to take the border crossing point east of the city,\u201d Mr Nassan said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. \u201cThey think there might be help [for the Kurdish militia] coming through the crossing so they want to control the border.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Geneva, Mr de Mistura said only a narrow corridor remains open for people to enter or flee the town. He said 500-700 elderly people and other civilians were still trapped in Kobani while 10,000-13,000 remain stuck nearby, close to the border.<\/p>\n
Mr de Mistura invoked the genocides in Rwanda in 1994 \u2013 in which million died as the world looked on \u2013 and the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, in which more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were massacred in July 1995, while UN forces stood by.<\/p>\n
If Kobani falls to IS fighters civilians \u201cwill be most likely massacred,\u201d the Italian-Swedish diplomat, appointed in July, said. \u201cWhen there is an imminent threat to civilians, we cannot, we should not be silent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou remember Srebrenica? We do. We never forgot. And probably we never forgave ourselves for that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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