An advance force of about a dozen Kurdish Peshmerga force arrived in the Kurdish city of Kobanu in Northern Syria, flanked by 50 members of the Free Syrian Army.  It’s hoped the battle-tested Peshmerga from Iraq will help turn the tide of the battle against Islamic State (IS), which is besieging the city from three sides.

The Peshmerga entered from the northern border with Turkey.  A column of Peshmerga fighters – about 150 in all, had already brought artillery through Turkey, and is expected to cross south and join the battle.  And this all comes a day after a group of Syrian Arab rebels entered the town also to fight against IS, aided by US-led coalition air strikes.

The US launched at least ten more airstrikes against IS forces around Kobani.  The battle for the city is emerging as a major test of whether it’s effective for the US to stay out of the ground battle and just pound away at IS from the sky.  So far, Islamic State has been weekend and suffered hundreds of casualties at Kobani, but it’s refusing to go away.