page_title: Siege of Kobanî
section_title: International reactions
hierarchical_section_title: Siege of Kobanî / International reactions
caption_attribution_description: English: Kurdish protests against Kobane siege of ISIL in Bologna, Italy on Global day for Kobane. November 1st 2014.
context_page_description: The Siege of Kobanî was launched by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on 13 September 2014, in order to capture the Kobanî Canton and its main city of Kobanî in northern Syria, in the de facto autonomous region of Rojava.
  By 2 October 2014, the Islamic State succeeded in capturing 350 Kurdish villages and towns in the vicinity of Kobanê, generating a wave of some 300,000 Kurdish refugees, who fled across the border into Turkey's Şanlıurfa Province in Turkish Kurdistan. By January 2015, this had risen to 400,000. The Kurdish People's Protection Units and some Free Syrian Army factions, Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and American and US-allied Arab militaries' airstrikes began to recapture Kobane.
  On 26 January 2015, the YPG and its allies, backed by the continued US-led airstrikes, began to retake the city, driving ISIL into a steady retreat. The city of Kobanê was fully recaptured on 27 January; however, most of the remaining villages in the Kobanî Canton remained under ISIL control. The YPG and its allies then made rapid advances in rural Kobanî, with ISIL withdrawing 25 km from the city of Kobanî by 2 February.
context_section_description: Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) – In September, the PKK threatened to resume its fight against the Turkish government, partly because of what it said was the latter's support for the onslaught against Kobanî. Öcalan reiterated the threat on 1 October 2014.
   Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) – The leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, called on the international community to defend the town, immediately after the first attack. "Barzani urges countries that are fighting IS to help the people and fighters of Kobane in their fight against the terrorist ISIS," said Fuad Hussein, chief of staff of Barzani. Meanwhile, soon the Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet reported that Barzani has asked Turkey to allow Peshmarga to pass through its territory to enter Kobane and prevent the town from falling. On 19 October, the US air planes delivered military and medical assistance from the Iraqi Kurdistan via airdrops. A few days later, 150 Peshmarga troops were mobilized to be sent to Kobane which they entered the town on 30 October carrying heavy weaponry with themselves.
   Iraqi Kurdistan – On 6 October 2014, Iraqi Kurdistan officials blamed the geography of the Kobanî region, as well as the Syrian Democratic Union Party's (PYD) "strategic mistakes"—which included concentrating power in an authoritarian manner—for not being able to send aid or support. The Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government announced on 12 October 2014, that it would send weapons, equipment, and humanitarian aid to Kobanî, with Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani stating "Kobanî is very important to us and we will spare no effort to save it".
   Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – In September 2014, the PUK asked Iran, Iraq, and Turkey to help the Kurdish defenders of Kobanî.
   Free Syrian Army (FSA) – Colonel Malik el-Kurdi, one of the commanders of the FSA, criticized the U.S. administration over airdropping weapons to the armed Kurdish factions: "It is disgusting politics for the U.S. to deliver weapons to the Kurds who have been fighting ISIS for only a month in a small town, while depriving the mainstream opposition for more than three years from any military and strategic aid while resisting the Assad regime that commits any kind of war crime."
   Syria – A senior Syrian minister apologized for not sending airstrikes, saying that Kobanî was so close to the Turkish border, that their jets would violate Turkish territory and be shot down. The Syrian Foreign Ministry also said that any Turkish military activity on its soil would be considered an act of aggression, and reacted furiously to Peshmerga troops being  deployed to Kobanî, claiming this was evidence of Turkey's "conspiratorial role" in Syria.
   Iran – Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham stressed the importance of supporting the Syrian government and nation in their fight against the terrorists in the region and called for supplying humanitarian aid to civilians and refugees. She denounced the international community's indifference toward the fate of the people in Kobani and said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran will soon send humanitarian aid to residents and refugees in this area through the Syrian government." Foreign Ministry also criticized the "passivity of the international community" regarding the besieged Syrian border town of Kobani and said the world should help President Bashar Assad confront "the terrorists." The comments by foreign ministry spokeswoman Afkham came shortly after Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Kobani was on the verge of falling to jihadists fighting for ISIS.
  President Hassan Rouhani also said that his country is ready to hold talks with the United States and Saudi Arabia on ways to resolve Syria's civil war, providing such negotiations can secure peace and democracy in conflict-torn Syria. "Iran will sit at any table with regional countries and world powers if the outcome will be a safer, stable and democratic future for Syria," Rouhani said in a press conference with Austrian President Heinz Fischer, adding this is par
caption: Global day for Kobanî. Kurdish protests took the streets all over the world on 1 November 2014. Kurdish protesters in Bologna, Italy.
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