MOSCOW, October 28 (RIA Novosti) — Fighters of the Kurdish Peshmerga are planning to enter the Syrian city of Kobani, currently besieged by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, in the next two days, Peshmerga Gen. Halgurd Hikmat stated Tuesday.
"The Peshmerga have been ready for a few days, then had logistical problems, but they no longer do. They will possibly be leaving today or tomorrow," the general told CNN.
"We now have an agreement with Turkey on this," he added.
On October 24, the Ambassador of Turkey to Russia told RIA Novosti that the deployment of 200 Peshmerga fighters from Iraq to Syrian Kurdistan's Kobani through Turkey was still under consideration.
For the past several weeks Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, one of the largest towns in the Kurdish region of Syria bordering Turkey, has been under attack by IS militants. Turkey has seen mass protests by its Kurdish population over Ankara's position of noninterference in the Syrian conflict.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces have been fighting against IS militants in Iraq's Ninawa (Nineveh), Kirkuk and Diyala governorates since August 6, 2014.
The group calling itself the IS is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). In late June, IS announced the establishment of a caliphate on the territories it had captured in Iraq and Syria. In August, the US-led coalition force began a series of air strikes against IS positions in Iraq and Syria.
