Kurds request antitank weapons

A group of Kurds viewed the fighting near the town of Kobani, Syria, which was under siege by Islamic State militants. ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images

MURSITPINAR, Turkey — In its battle for the Syrian town of Kobani, the Islamic State group enjoys a key advantage: a supply of weapons, ammunition, and fighters shuttling between Syria and Iraq.

The town’s Syrian Kurdish defenders, while backed by airstrikes from the US-led coalition, are outnumbered, poorly armed, and squeezed against the unwelcoming Turkish border.

Reflecting growing desperation despite their success so far in holding out, Syrian Kurdish officials are increasing appeals to better arm the defenders of the key frontier town.

‘‘From the start, we said the coalition’s airstrikes will not be able to save Kobani or to defeat Daesh in the area,’’ said Idriss Nassan, deputy head of Kobani’s foreign relations committee, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

‘‘We call upon the international community to open a humanitarian safe passage to allow in food, medicine, and weapons supplies,’’ he said.

It is unclear what friendly countries could do. Weapons for Kurdish fighters would have to cross through Turkey — a request the Ankara government probably would rebuff.

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The Islamic State group launched its Kobani offensive in mid-September, capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages and a third of the town in advances that sent waves of civilians fleeing into Turkey.

Bolstered by the intensified air campaign targeting the Islamic State group, Kurdish fighters were able to regain some of the positions they lost in recent days. The US Central Command said Thursday it most recently launched 14 airstrikes on Islamic State targets near Kobani, hitting 19 buildings and two command posts, as well as fighting and sniper positions.

‘‘Indications are that airstrikes have continued to slow ISIL advances, but that the security situation on the ground in Kobani remains tenuous,’’ the military said, using another acronym for the group.

But the Kurds fear their luck will run out without heavier weapons and more fighters. About 3,000 to 4,000 Kurds are fighting to block the Sunni militant group from seizing Kobani, according to estimates from Kurdish fighters.

They have urged Turkey to open the border for members of the Kurdish militia in northwestern Syria — known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG — to go through Turkish territory to reinforce Kobani.

But Turkey is wary of the Syrian Kurds and their YPG militia, which it thinks is affiliated with the Kurdish PKK movement in southeast Turkey that has waged a bloody insurgency.

This week, Turkish forces shelled PKK fighters in the country’s southeast and said the coalition should fight both the Islamic State group and the government forces of Bashar Assad, the Syrian president.

The Syrian Kurdish fighters, who include a few women, are armed only with AK-47s and other light weapons, said Sirwan Kajjo, a Syrian Kurdish analyst who has been in contact with frontline forces, including Salah Muslim, of the Kurdish Democratic Union party.

This puts the Kurdish militiamen at a significant disadvantage against a militant group that has, over a year, managed to acquire an arsenal that includes Soviet-era tanks, Humvees, .50-caliber machine guns, and at least one Scud missile — although it is unclear whether the group is able to launch it.

It has also captured M46 cannons from bases overrun in Syria’s Raqqa province and artillery seized from the Iraqi military when the group took control of Mosul.

Kajjo said Muslim told him that all his fighters needed were antitank missiles.

‘‘That is a legitimate request, because although [the militants] are not able to get the tanks inside the city, they are still able to shell [Kobani] with the tanks,’’ he said.

US Rear Admiral John Kirby said Wednesday there is no resupply mission into Kobani that he is aware of. ‘‘We’re doing what we can from the air to try to support them in their effort to defend the city,’’ the Pentagon spokesman said.