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ISIS militants close in on key Syria border town despite US air strikes

The militants still managed to advance within five kilometres of the strategic Syrian town of Ain Al Arab, known as Koban to the Kurds.

ISIS group fighters closed in on Monday to within only a few kilometres of a key Kurdish town on Syria’s border with Turkey, despite continued air strikes by the US-led coalition.

Nato member Turkey’s government meanwhile said it would ask parliament to debate joining the coalition against the militants operating on the country’s doorstep from as early as Thursday.

The alliance carried out fresh raids against ISIS positions in Syria overnight, but the militants still managed to advance within five kilometres of the strategic Syrian town of Ain Al Arab, known as Kobane to the Kurds, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based monitoring group said it was the closest the militants had come to the town since they began advancing toward it nearly two weeks ago.

The ISIS fired at least 15 rockets at the town centre, killing at least one person, as they advanced, the Observatory said, adding that other rockets hit the Syrian-Turkish border.

In Ankara, parliamentary speaker Cemil Cicek was quoted by NTV television as saying motions for discussions on Turkey joining the coalition could land with lawmakers on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the motions would be debated on Thursday.

Turkey had refused to join the coalition while dozens of its citizens — including diplomats and children — were being held by ISIS after being abducted in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

After they were freed, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey’s position had changed, signalling a more robust stance towards the group.

“We will hold discussions with our relevant institutions this week. We will definitely be where we need to be,” Erdogan said on Sunday.

“We cannot stay out of this.”

On Monday, the Observatory reported fresh overnight strikes in two northern provinces, Raqa and Aleppo.

In Raqa, which has become the de facto headquarters of ISIS, the strikes hit outside the provincial capital, with a checkpoint among the targets, the group said.

The coalition also carried out strikes around the town of Tal Abyad on the border with Turkey, hitting a school used as a local headquarters by IS militants, the Observatory said.

But in Aleppo, raids hit a civilian-run mill and grain silos outside the ISIS-held town of Minbej, the Observatory said, adding that civilians were believed to have been killed.

The strikes also hit a local headquarters belonging to ISIS outside Minbej, the Observatory added.

So far, the coalition has attracted dozens of countries, though only a handful of Arab allies — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan — are participating in the strikes on Syrian soil.

In an interview with CBS News, President Barack Obama acknowledged his administration had underestimated the opportunity that the three-and-a-half year-old Syrian civil war would provide for jihadist militants to regroup and stage a sudden comeback.