Islamic State wages assault on Syrian border town

Where are the airstrikes?

Where are the foreign ( but not U.S. again this time ) ground troops?

Turkey may say one thing, but may also be happy to sit and watch IS and the Kurds rubbing each other out. Just as long as none of it spills over the border this way.

I think Turkey has committed to some ground troops, but that's pretty much it. When they will arrive is anybody's guess.

Forget ground troops, what is needed is two fold.

Get the names of Islamic State terrorists and go after their families. Low yield ground burst Nukes.

Time to take the gloves off against these terrorists.

Sounds an awful lot like "boots on the ground" are in the near future, if not secretly already.

Is this about the time when Obama's coalition of the unwilling, black-mailed, and bribed starts to do something to degrade and destroy ISIS?

The Kurds need more ammo and weapons. In others articles it says that they are running out of ammo. RESPECT to the ladies fighters who are showing these ISIS cowards how to live and die !

It is amazing how little attention Turkey gets in this story. Turkey could end this nightmary very quickly. But rather, Erdogan sits by and watches how ISIS massacres the Kurds and destroys the Assad government, both of which is in Erdogan`s interest.

The cynicism of the Turkish government is quite amazing. Behold our Nato partners and future EU members.

Yoda - goos powerful stuff but will never happen. They don't have families, theyhave sex slaves and concubines they force into servitude. Nukes? imagine what that would do to the global p[olitical landscape.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... ISIS have so far only had real success where they have seriously outgunned & outnumbered their opposition, or where they've been free to terrorize defenceless civilians. In other words, they've picked their fights carefully - or they've just been lucky. They haven't faced a disciplined, properly trained and equipped army and when they do, they are going to be destroyed. Airstrikes will become seriously effective once the A-10 ground attack aircraft are put into action, which will be soon. So far, it's been largely the wrong type of air support - not because ISIS are somehow invincible, as they clearly aren't. And don't forget that the Kurds have already defeated and pushed ISIS back in other places already. There's ground being won and lost all over northern Iraq and Syria.

At Kobani, Turkey is sitting there cynically doing nothing, because if they really wanted to stop ISIS they could easily roll across the border and wipe them out. I guess they're just waiting for the Kurds to start begging, which is pretty shortsighted, since at least the Kurds are "the devil they know" and surely infinitely preferable as neighbours compared to ISIS.

IS would really love to get their hands on that town but they know it will take time and attrition. Since the resistance is fierce IS have probably sent in raw recruits to prove themselves before the tougher guys move in.

Those poor guys walking up that hill in the shot above look totally exhausted. You can see their thought bubbles: "What on earth are we doing here?"

nandakamanda:

" IS would really love to get their hands on that town but they know it will take time and attrition. "

ISIS has all the time in the world, plus income from both oil and Arab backers, plus the support of a large part of the Sunni population. They are not going anywhere. Meanwhild, Erdogan is withholding support for the Kurds. So don´t expect this to have a miraculously good outcome. ISIS is on a roll and will be for some time.

Nobody has said it yet, but IS is conducting ethnic and religious cleansing on a grand scale.