US military aircraft have dropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State (ISIL) militants in the key Syrian town of Kobane.
US Central Command said C-130 transport aircraft had made
"multiple" drops of supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq.
US air strikes have helped push back ISIL in the town near
the Turkish border.
Correspondents say the airdrops are likely to anger key US
ally Turkey.
The drops of supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in
Iraq were "intended to enable continued resistance against Isil's attempts
to overtake Kobane," CentCom said in a statement. ISIL is also referred to
as IS and Isis.
All the aircraft involved had returned safely, it added.
CentCom says US forces have conducted more than 135 air
strikes against ISIL in Kobani.
"Combined with continued resistance to Isil on the
ground, indications are that these strikes have slowed Isil advances into the
city, killed hundreds of their fighters and destroyed or damaged scores of
pieces of Isil combat equipment and fighting positions," its statement said.
However, it added that ISIL fighters continued to threaten
Kurdish forces' ability to resist and hold the city. "Kobane could still
fall," it said.
On Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he
would not allow Kurdish fighters to receive any transfers of American arms.
ISIL militants control territory straddling Syria and Iraq.
Kobane is one of their strategic objectives, and fierce fighting has raged in
the town for weeks, forcing the evacuation of most of its civilian inhabitants.
Turkey has resisted calls to help the Kurds fighting in
Kobane, describing them as terrorists like the Kurdish militant group the PKK.
Turkey has faced a decades-long insurgency by the PKK, which
is regarded as a terrorist group by the US and other allies of Turkey.
BBC