28-03-2024 04:32 PM Jerusalem Timing

Turkey Says Kurdish Peshmerga Fighters Yet to Cross to Syria

Turkey Says Kurdish Peshmerga Fighters Yet to Cross to Syria

Turkey said Tuesday Kurdish peshmerga fighters based in Iraq have yet to cross into Syria from Turkish territory, a day after announcing it was assisting their transit to join the battle for the town of Kobani.

TurkeyTurkey said Tuesday Kurdish peshmerga fighters based in Iraq have yet to cross into Syria from Turkish territory, a day after announcing it was assisting their transit to join the battle for the town of Kobani.

"The peshmerga have yet to cross from Turkey to Kobani and this issue is still being discussed," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told NTV television, without giving further details.

Cavusoglu announced Monday that Turkey was helping the Kurdish peshmerga cross into Syria from Turkey to reinforce Kurdish fighters battling to stop the Syrian border town of Kobani falling to ISIL.

It was seen as a major switch in policy by Turkey, which until now has refused to interfere in the over month-long battle for Kobani between Syrian Kurdish fighters and ISIL terrorists.

Cavusoglu said that the details of the reinforcement were still being worked out between the Democratic Union Party (PYD) -- the Syrian Kurdish group which controlled Kobani until the ISIL advance -- and the peshmerga.

"We are waiting for PYD and peshmerga to discuss the issue and reach an agreement," said Cavusoglu. "We will take the necessary steps once the conditions are met."

He added that no decision has been taken yet on how many peshmerga will be allowed to cross into Syria or by which route.

"It might be either ground or air," he said.

A local Kurdish official, Idris Nassen, told AFP Kobane was relatively calm on Tuesday, adding that no reinforcements had yet arrived and they did not have "any idea" when they would.

Coalition aircraft carried out further strikes during the night.

ISIL lost at least five of its militants to air strikes on Monday and a further 12 in ground fighting, including two suicide bombers, the monitoring group said.