Syrian rebels enter Kurdish town from Turkey

For the first time since the Islamic State group launched an offensive on the Syrian border town of Kobani last month, a small group of Syrian rebels yesterday entered the town from Turkey in a push to help Kurdish fighters there battle the militants, activists and Kurdish officials said.

The group of around 50 armed men is from the Free Syrian Army, and is separate from Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters who were also en route yesterday to Kobani, along the Syrian-Turkish border.

Idriss Nassan, a Kurdish official from Kobani, said the FSA group entered Kobani through the Mursitpinar bordercrossing in Turkey. Nassan, who spoke from the border region in Turkey, said they travelled in cars but did not have more details.