300 Kurds cross from Turkey to Syria to fight jihadists

At least 300 Kurdish fighters crossed from Turkey into Syria overnight to battle jihadists from the Islamic State group trying to seize a strategic border town, a monitor said yesterday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Kurds had joined the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in their fight against the IS group as it seeks to capture the town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobane to the Kurds.
The fighting around the strategic town has prompted a mass exodus into Turkey, which opened its border on Friday to fleeing Kurds and has since received 45,000 people, according to officials.
The clashes broke out on Tuesday evening, and the IS jihadists have since seized 60 Kurdish villages in a lightening campaign.
Ain al-Arab is Syria's third largest Kurdish town and capturing it would give IS control of a long stretch of the country's northern border with Turkey.
The Observatory said fighting was continuing on Saturday, with heavy clashes in the vicinity of the town.