GAZIANTEP, Turkey
Syrian opposition forces have entered the Kurdish town of Kobani via Turkey, a Free Syrian Army commander told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
A group of 200 Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces penetrated the battle-torn Syrian town Kobani, near the Turkish border, to fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, by passing through Turkey, said Abdul Jabbar al-Oqaidi, commander for the Free Syrian Army.
"Two hundred fighters of the Free Syrian Army have crossed over Syria from Turkey to join the fight for Kobani," said al-Oqaidi, confident that the group, essentially composed of defected Syrian armed forces' officers and soldiers, will be victorious.
The Free Syrian Army is the main opposition army group in Syria that has been battling Bashar al-Assad’s forces for three and a half years in a brutal civil war, which has permitted ISIL militants to establish themselves in the region. In recent weeks, ISIL has been fighting Kurdish forces in Kobani for control of the town.
"We want the international community and the coalition forces to support the [Free Syrian Army], which has been fighting against ISIL and the Assad regime," added al-Oqaidi.
The Kurdish regional government in Iraq has also sent its peshmerga forces Wednesday to fight alongside the Kurdish groups in Kobani under a special arrangement with Turkey.
Peshmerga troops arrived early Wednesday at Sanliurfa province who will travel onwards to the Syrian town of Kobani.
They landed on a private plane at Turkey's GAP Airport from Erbil International Airport at 01.15 a.m, local time. The peshmerga troops were stationed in Suruc town near the Syrian border, a provincial governor told reporters earlier today.
A separate truck convoy carrying their heavy weaponry also entered Turkey Wednesday via Habur border pass in the southeastern province of Sirnak.
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