NATO says will take action to protect Turkey if needed

WARSAW / ŞANLIURFA

Turkish tanks hold their positions on a hilltop in the outskirts of Suruç, on the Turkey-Syria border. Suruç overlooks the Kurdish-populated town of Kobani in Syria, where fighting has intensified between Syrian Kurds and ISIL militants.

The NATO military alliance will stand by Turkey if that proves necessary to protect the country from attacks on it by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Oct. 6.

Clashes have recently intensified in the Kurdish populated Syrian town of Kobane and rising smoke from the clashes can been seen from Suruç.

Bullets fly from Kobane into Turkey

Dozens of mortar shells and bullets have hit houses in Turkish border villages as  militants entered the outer neighborhoods of of Kobane.

The Turkish military increased measures and deployed 25 tanks to a hill near Mürşitpınar village on Oct. 6, while a senior Army commander inspected troops positioned near the border. 

The clashes in the streets of Kobane intensified, as 13 mortar shells and dozens of anti-aircraft gun and heavy machine gun bullets hit the Kendirciler and Mürşitpınar villages of Turkey.

Early morning, a mortar shell believed to have been fired by ISIL hit a house that belongs to Yusuf Çankaya in Mürşitpınar and the neighboring grocery store, causing severe damage to the buildings.

“Thank God, we had evacuated the house so no one was injured,” said Çankaya.

Tear gas fired to disperse reporters, civilians

The Turkish security forces used tear gas to push dozens of reporters and Kurdish civilians away from the border zone.
      
The armed forces employed tear gas for the second day in a row to push people back from the border area which has become increasingly dangerous owing to mortars fired from Syria.
      
"Leave or else we will intervene," the security forces ordered through loudspeakers on trucks.

Land Forces Commander Gen. Hulusi Akar has arrived in Suruç, inspecting troops. Following a briefing at the 3rd Border Battalion Command, Akar visited troops deployed to the border in Mürşitpınar and passed along holiday greetings for Eid al-Adha. The general then observed the clashes in Kobane with binoculars from a hill overlooking the Syrian town.

Meanwhile, local municipalities have established “alternative tent camps” in Suruç, in addition to those established by the Prime Ministry’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), for thousands of Syrian Kurds who have fled the clashes.

Around 10,000 Syrian Kurds are being hosted in three separate camps established by the municipalities, while aid from mayors who are members of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), the sister party of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), are being distributed to the refugees.