US drops supplies to help Kurdish fighters in Syria

(VOA) - The U.S. military says its cargo planes have delivered weapons, ammunition and medical supplies from Kurdish authorities in Iraq to Kurds battling Islamic State militants in northern Syria.

A U.S. Central Command statement said the airdrops late Sunday in the Kobani area are meant to resupply the Kurds so they can continue holding off the Islamic State group's attempt to overrun the city. The battle for the area just across the border from Turkey has been going on for weeks.

Earlier Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country would not arm the Kurdish fighters, calling them "equal" to the Kurdistan Workers Party that both Turkey and the U.S. consider a terrorist group.

Erdogan said "it would be very, very wrong to expect" the Turkish government "to openly say 'yes' to our NATO ally America giving this kind of support. To expect something like this from us is impossible."

He made the comment days after the United States said it held its first direct talks with the Syrian Kurdish political party the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, which is tied to the Kurdish fighters in Kobani.

A State Department spokesperson stressed that one meeting does not represent coordination in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Late Saturday, U.S. President Barack Obama spoke by telephone with Erdogan about the situation in Kobani and steps that can be taken to stop Islamic State militants. 

The White House said Obama expressed appreciation for Turkey hosting more than one million refugees from the region - including about 400,000 who fled Kobani.

Meanwhile, Islamic State militants continued to attack Kurdish fighters in and around Kobani with mortars and car bombs, sources in the city and a monitoring group said on Sunday.

Islamic State militants fired 44 mortars at Kurdish parts of the city on Saturday, with some of the shells falling inside the nearby Turkish border, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The group said four more mortars were fired on Sunday.

Bakudaily.Az