New peshmerga group enters Kobane from Turkey

ISTANBUL - Agence France-Presse

The second contingent of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters entered Syria late on Dec. 2. AA Photo

A second contingent of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters streamed across the Syrian border from Turkey late Dec. 2 to join the fight against jihadists for the strategic Syrian town of Kobane.

Some 150 Peshmerga passed through the Murşitpinar border crossing to reinforce Syrian Kurds in the battle against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants for the town, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Kobane, besieged by ISIL jihadists for more than two months, is just across the border from the southeastern Şanlıurfa province.

Peshmerga fighters were flown out of Arbil on a private plane under tight security and landed at GAP Airport in the southeastern Turkish province of Şanlıurfa Dec. 1.

The fighters, who will reportedly replace exhausted Peshmerga currently defending Kobane, are equipped with the latest weapons and ammunition, reports said.

Turkey allowed the first contingent of Iraqi Peshmerga - also including 150 fighters - to transit Turkish soil to defend the town in late October.