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F-15US Department of Defense

The U.S.-led coalition has carried out sustained air strikes against the terrorist group Islamic State (aka ISIS), as the battle for control of Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border intensifies.

According to Euronews, while coalition aircraft attacked from the sky Syrian Kurds launched a ground offensive against the extremists' positions.

Dutch warplanes attacked an ISIS convoy overnight, as Commodore Theo ten Haaf explained: “There were pickup trucks, four wheel drives with an open platform at the back carrying a heavy machine gun. The weapon was being used to attack the Peshmerga,” as Kurdish fighters are called.

As fighting rages in Kobani the Turkish army remains poised on its side of the border, but has so far refrained from any intervention despite parliamentary authorization to do so.

The lack of action by Turkey is “a cause of deep frustration in Washington, with Secretary of State John Kerry making numerous phone calls to Ankara for clarification,” reported Euronews.

The UN says that if Kobani falls, a bloodbath will ensue, coupled with a humanitarian tragedy.

Writing in the Guardian, Cale Salih observed: "Every day, Isis marches closer to the heart of Kobani, and every day, Kurds across the region grow more exasperated that everyone seems to know what scene comes next – 'a terrible slaughter', with '5,000 dead within 24 or 36 hours.'"