Heavy fighting has been reported for yet another day in and around the Syrian city of Kobani along the Turkish border.
Dark plumes of smoke could be seen rising above the city Sunday as Kurdish fighters battled to defend the city from the continuing onslaught by Islamic State extremists.
U.S.-led coalition warplanes have been pounding targets in and around Kobani.
U.N. officials in the region have warned that as many as 12,000 Kurds, including hundreds of elderly people in the city's center, "will most likely be massacred" if Kobani falls. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says IS extremists controlled 40 percent of the town by early Saturday.
The Turkish government has so far refused to join the battle, citing ties between Kobani's Kurdish defenders and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party. The PKK has waged a decades-long rebellion for self-rule in southeastern Turkey and has been designated a terrorist organization by Ankara and Washington.
据报道，靠近土耳其边界的叙利亚城镇科巴尼城内和周围星期天继续发生激战。库尔德武装仍在抵抗伊斯兰国激进分子，科巴尼冒出滚滚黑烟。
美国为首的联盟战机不断对科巴尼城内和附近目标发动空袭。
这个地区的联合国官员警告说，如果科巴尼被攻陷，城内大约1.2万名库尔德人很可能被屠杀，其中有几百位老人。总部设在英国的叙利亚人权瞭望台说，到星期六早晨为止，伊斯兰国激进分子已经控制了科巴尼40%的地方。
虽然国际社会对土耳其总统埃尔多安施加压力，但土耳其仍未派兵进行干预。土耳其政府拒绝出兵参战的理由是，保卫科巴尼的库尔德武装与被取缔的库尔德工人党有关联。
库尔德工人党几十年来一直反叛，要求在土耳其东南部实行库尔德人自治。该组织被土耳其和美国定为恐怖组织。
