Kobani reinforcements 'only temporary'

Iraqi Kurdish forces currently bolstering Syrian Kurds battling "Islamic State" militants in the city of Kobani will only stay temporarily, an Iraqi politician has said.

"Our role is to back up the people who are struggling on the ground in Kobani," said Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government. He added that the involvement of Iraqi Kurds in the fighting is aimed at the short-term goal of aiding fellow Kurds currently besieged by IS in the city.

"I don't…expect major changes in the political equation of the region as a whole," he said.

A Kurdish peshmerga fighter said Sunday that the Iraqi Kurds were involved in heavy clashes on the southeastern outskirts of Kobani in a village called Sheran. There was no word on potential casualties in the fighting.

Witnesses on the ground have said the Iraqi fighters have made a big difference in the fight against IS, which has sought repeatedly to encircle Kobani.

"The peshmerga joined the battle late yesterday and it made a big difference with their artillery. It is proper artillery," said Idriss Nassan, deputy minister for foreign affairs in Kobani. "We didn't have artillery; we were using mortars and other locally made weapons. So this is a good thing."

The Iraqi Kurds arrived in Kobani late last week after Turkey granted them permission to travel by land via Turkey to Syria. Turkey had previously been reluctant to allow the Syrian Kurdish Militia (YPG) to travel through Turkish territory because it believes the YPG to be associated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) movement that has led an insurgency against the Turkish government for self-rule.

Canada joins IS airstrikes for first time

Meanwhile, the Canadian air force bombed IS targets for the first time on Sunday, using laser-guided bombs near Fallujah, west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

"Today's strike demonstrates our government's firm resolve to tackle the threat of terrorism and to stand with our allies against ['Islamic State'] atrocities against women, children and men," Canadian Defense Minister Rob Nicholson said in a statement.

Over the weekend, the US-led coalition conducted five separate airstrikes near Kobani, hitting IS units and destroying IS vehicles, according to United States Central Command.

The "Islamic State" offensive on Kobani and nearby Syrian villages has killed more than 800 people, according to activists, and caused more than 200,000 people to flee into Turkey. The militant group has conquered broad stretches of land in Iraq and Syria and has brutalized both Muslims and religious minorities in the areas it occupies.

bw/jm (Reuters, AP, AFP)