The Ministry of Defence has confirmed the British Army has deployed a “small specialist team” to help train the Kurdish Peshmerga trying to hold back ISIS. The team is the latest initiative in the desperate effort to stop Kobane on the Syrian/Turkish border from being taken by the terrorists.
So far Britain has joined with the American’s to launch airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq but not Syria. The Royal Air Force (RAF) has also transported equipment like body armour and helmets to the beleaguered Kurdish fighters.
The latest development comes as Kurds protest around the world that they are not being given the support they need. They claim that the Turkish army is standing by whilst they are massacred by ISIS. However, the complication on the border is that the Kurdish PKK is a communist group committed to creating an independent Kurdistan on what is currently Turkish territory. This has made Turkey reticent about assisting the Kurds in Syria.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman told the BBC: “The defence secretary has approved the deployment of a small specialist team of non-combat Army trainers, which is now in the Irbil area providing instruction on operating, employing and maintaining the heavy machine guns that were gifted by the UK last month.”
The town of Kobane is now said to be surrounded on three sides by ISIS, and smoke can be seen coming from the wreckage of buildings. Most of the local population have now largely escaped to Turkey, where they relatively safe behind a border that is defended by the 200,000 strong Turkish army.
The Daily Mirror reports local residents left behind face the brutality of what it describes as “drug-crazed Islamic State terrorists”. ISIS fighters are known for their brutality towards civilians are if Kobane falls there is likely to be a genocide.
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