Fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have
continued to advance into the Kurdish-dominated town of Ain al-Arab in
Syria, despite the US-led air campaign against the self-declared
jihadist group.
More than 15,000 residents have fled the northern Syrian town as ISIL
fighters pushed deeper, fighting fierce battles with Kurdish armed
groups on Saturday.
Ain al-Arab, which the Kurds call Kobane, is close to the Syrian-Turkey border.
Turkish officials said that four mortar shells from the fighting in Syria landed in Turkey on Saturday, injuring two people.
Earlier on the day, US coalition-led warplanes struck ISIL positions
near Ain al-Arab, as well as targets that included wheat silos in the
country's east.
Fighting have been raging in the north for two weeks as ISIL captured
dozens of villages around Ain al-Arab and tried to push into the town
itself.
Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker, reporting from the Turkish side of the
border, said smoke 
could be seen from the eastern side of the town after
what sounded like an explosion.
could be seen from the eastern side of the town after
what sounded like an explosion.
Kurdish sources inside Ain al-Arab, where fighters had been preparing
for street battles should ISIL manage to penetrate their defences, said
they had been informed of the strikes in advance so that they could
pull back from some frontlines.
Locals said the village of Alishera, just a few kilometres from the
border and held by the ISIL, had been hit by one of the four strikes on
Saturday morning. The US-led coalition did not say whether it had carried out the air raids in the area.
Surrounded by dozens of Kurdish refugees from Syria, Dekker said that
those who left their homes seemed to be disappointed by the US-led air
campaign.
"Many of the people we have spoken to do not see the usefulness of
the strikes as the ISIL continues to push into their areas," she said.
The US, backed by Arab allies, launched its first air strikes on ISIL
targets in Syria on Tuesday after hitting hundreds of targets in
neighbouring Iraq, where the group has also captured large swathes of
territory.
Source: Al Jazeera
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