MASS SLAUGHTER ABOUT TO ENSUE IN KOBANI

WND EXCLUSIVE

SOS TO IRAN AS U.S.-BACKED EFFORT TO HOLD KEY TOWN FALTERS

160,000 could be condemned to mass slaughter by ISIS

F. Michael Maloof

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As Syrian Kurds armed with small weapons and occasional help from U.S.-led coalition aerial bombing engage ISIS fighters in street-to-street fighting in the Syrian city of Kobani near the Turkish border, there are mounting calls for Iran to send in military officers to assist the Kurds.

In Iraq, the peshmerga ground forces are being backed by U.S.-led coalition aerial bombing and some help from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The IRGC.

Now, there are calls, especially in Iran, for IRGC to assist the Syrian Kurds who are on the verge of losing Kobani to ISIS. Calls for IRGC help for the Syrian Kurds have prompted demonstrations of support in various Iranian cities.

There also are protest demonstrations under way in various Kurdish cities in western Iran, including Tabriz, Mashhad and Tehran, in front of the Turkish embassy.

The fall of Kobani to ISIS also would effectively cut off the Iraqi Kurds from the Syrian Kurds and allow ISIS fighters to travel freely in the northern part of Syria into northern Iraq.

The call for Iran to assist the Syrian Kurds is due to the perception that the U.S.-led coalition isn’t taking seriously the ISIS siege of Kobani.

Because of the Kurds’ ties not only with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but also with Iran, sources say the U.S. doesn’t want to leave the impression it is bolstering Assad and working with Iran by providing further assistance to the Syrian Kurds beyond aerial bombings.

Fear of mass slaughter

Turkey has refused to attack ISIS forces to help the Syrian Kurds, due to its historical dispute with the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, which Turkey and even the United States regards as a terrorist group.

The lack of Turkish help for the Syrian Kurds could condemn some 160,000 residents of Kobani to a mass slaughter at the hands of ISIS, which regards the Kurds as “infidels.”

As a signal of Iran’s concern, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in Kobani.

“Iran will soon send humanitarian aid for the residents and refugees in this area through the Syrian government,” Afkham said.

Shiite Iran is a major supporter of the government of Assad, a Shiite-Alawite.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, has made it clear that Iran doesn’t want Turkish troops inside Syria. Iran now is in discussions with Turkey to return some 200,000 Kurds who have fled Syria for refuge in Turkey.

At the same time, Amir-Abdollahian made clear Iran “will take any necessary action to help the Kurds in Kobani in line with its support for the Syrian government in its fight against terrorism.”

The Syrian government pulled out its troops from Kobani at the beginning of the three-year civil war due to stretched resources and turned over the city to the Kurds.

Kobani is a central location for three separate Kurdish-ruled regions in northern Syria. Surrounded by ISIS on three sides, with Turkey on the fourth, ISIS has strategic designs on the city, which would give the jihadist group access to the oil-rich region the Kurds have occupied historically.

The call for the IRGC to assist the Syrian Kurdish fighters comes as Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the IRGC Quds force, has been advising Iraqi forces and the peshmerga in fighting against ISIS in Iraq.

Sources say Iran sent in some 2,000 troops into Iraq to fight ISIS.

Soleimani has been credited already with helping to liberate the Iraqi town of Amerli and to supply arms to Kurdish forces fighting ISIS in Iraq.

Iran was concerned that ISIS would butcher residents of Amerli, a fear they also have for the residents of Kobani. In addition, introduction of Iranian troops is seen as impeding the ISIS march on Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, which is in the Shiite region of the country.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/sos-to-iran-as-u-s-backed-effort-to-hold-key-town-falters/#LKpdtqrZzohe7uB5.99