Peshmerga, Syrian rebels battle Islamic State in besieged Kobani

Gunfire and explosions were audible from the Syrian-Turkish border region near Kobani on Tuesday morning (November 4), indicating little respite from intensive clashes between Kurdish forces, backed up by Syrian rebels, and Islamic State militants.     

Turkish residents gathered on a hilltop near the border to watch the besieged Syrian town as smoke rose above the rooftops of buildings.    

Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters and moderate Syrian rebels bombarded Islamic State positions in Kobani on Monday (November 3), but it was unclear if their arrival would turn the tide in the battle for town.     

Kobani has become a symbolic test of the U.S.-led coalition's ability to halt the advance of Islamic State, which has poured weapons and fighters into its assault of the town that has lasted more than a month.      

The battle has deflected attention from significant gains elsewhere in Syria by Islamic State, which has seized two gas fields within a week from President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the centre of the country.        

The eyes of the world have been on Kobani, where weeks of fighting have taken place within full view of the Turkish border, causing outrage among Kurds in Turkey who blamed their government for doing too little to help defend the town.       

The arrival in Kobani of the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga and additional Syrian Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters in recent days has escalated efforts to defend the town after weeks of U.S.-led air strikes slowed but did not reverse the Islamists' advance.

IS RELEASES Syrian Kurds

The militant Islamic State group has released 93 Syrian Kurds it captured in February as they made their way from northern Syria to neighboring Iraq, a group monitoring the conflict said on Tuesday.       

Islamic State seized around 100 people, accusing them of being members of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) which has opposed the militants, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It was not immediately clear why they were released.        

The al Qaeda offshoot which is the target of U.S.-led air strikes in Syria and Iraq, released all but six of the Kurds in Syria on Monday, the Observatory said.       

The remaining captives were accused of theft and Islamic State said it would cut off their right hand as a punishment, added the Observatory, which gathers its information from a network of sources.          

The Kurds were taken captive as they crossed from areas around the Syrian town of Kobani on the Turkish border on a road towards Iraqi Kurdistan. Islamic State has also fought with Kurds in Iraq.       

Ten of thousands of Syrian Kurds took the route east towards Iraq earlier this year to flee Islamic State's advance in Syria.         

Around 53 of the Kurds released on Monday made their way into Turkey and the location of the 40 others is unknown, the Observatory said. The militants were still holding around 70 more Kurds captive, it added.