Islamic State (IS) militants under cover of heavy artillery fire crept in on the edges of the northern Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani, and closer to the reported 12,000 Kurdish civilians trapped inside the towns.  It’s prompting fears of an impending massacre.

The ugly black flag of Islamic State was flying over a four-storey building at the edge of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab in Arabic), visible from the Turkish side of the border.  It’s proof of the street-to-street fighting taking place underneath the flying shells.  Kurdish defenders were running out of heavy ammunition according to Anwar Muslim, a coordinator in Kobani for the Kurdish People’s Protection Committees (YPG). 

“We either die or win.  No fighter is leaving,” said Kobani Defense Authority leader Esmat al-Sheikh.  “The world is watching, just watching and leaving these monsters to kill everyone, even children.  But we will fight to the end with what weapons we have.”

Kurds say as many as 9,000 IS fighters had come in from other fronts to attack what one Iraqi Kurdish official called “a bastion of democracy and secularism” in Kobani, which has given shelter to internally displaced Syrians from a wide range of ethnic groups.  That number couldn’t be immediately confirmed, but reporters in Iraq were told by

Kurdish women have been forced to join the defense.  One reportedly blew herself up with a hand grenade rather than be captured by incoming IS fighters.  Given their record of beheadings and other atrocities, the hand grenade was the preferable option.