Army

US Drops Weapons and Supplies to Kurds in Kobane

The US military has airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Kurdish forces defending the Syrian city of Kobane against Islamic State militants.

The airdrops were the first of their kind and followed weeks of US and coalition airstrikes in and near Kobane, near the Turkish border

The US said earlier that it had launched 11 airstrikes overnight in the Kobane area.

US Central Command said U.S. C-130 cargo planes made multiple drops of arms and supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq.

It said they were intended to enable continued resistance to Islamic State efforts to take full control of Kobane

The airdrops are almost certain to anger the Turkish government, which has said it would oppose any US arms transfers to the Kurdish rebels in Syria

Turkey views the main Kurdish group in Syria as an extension of the Turkish Kurd group known as the PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terror group by the US and by NATO

Central Command said its forces have conducted more than 135 airstrikes against Islamic State forces in Kobane.

Using an acronym for the Islamic State group, Central Command said:

"Combined with continued resistance to ISIL on the ground, indications are that these strikes have slowed ISIL advances into the city, killed hundreds of their fighters and destroyed or damaged scores of pieces of ISIL combat equipment and fighting positions."