Haaretz's latest Middle East analyses and opinions: Hezbollah's latest attack: PR for the resistance (Anshel Pfeffer) | Will the blood of Kobani's Kurds be on Turkey's hands? (Seth Lipsky)
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Latest updates:
12:00 P.M. U.S.-led air strikes on Wednesday pushed Islamic State fighters back to the edges of the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani, which they had appeared set to seize after a three-week assault, Kurdish officials in the town said.
"They are now outside the entrances of the city of Kobani. The shelling and bombardment was very effective and as a result of it, IS have been pushed from many positions," Idris Nassan, deputy foreign minister of Kobani district, told Reuters by phone.
"This is their biggest retreat since their entry into the city and we can consider this as the beginning of the countdown of their retreat from the area." (Reuters) Read full article
11:52 A.M. At least 12 people died on Tuesday during violent clashes across Turkey, local media reported, as the fate of the besieged Syrian border town of Kobani stirred up decades of tensions with Turkey's Kurdish minority.
Violence erupted in Turkish towns and cities mainly in the Kurdish southeastern provinces, as protesters took to the streets to demand the government do more to protect Kobani, a predominantly Kurdish settlement which has been surrounded by Islamic State fighters for three weeks.
Authorities imposed curfews in at least five provinces, police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators who burnt cars and tires, whilst groups linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) clashed with Islamic State sympathizers, authorities said.
Eight people died in Diyabakir, the largest Kurdish city in the southeast, DHA News agency reported, citing a senior police officer. Several others died in the eastern provinces of Mus, Siirt and Batman in clashes between police and protesters.
Istanbul Govenor's Office said 98 people were detained in 'illegal protests' across the country's biggest city, and 30 people were wounded, including eight police officers.
The death toll in one night has already surpassed that seen during weeks of anti-government protests which turned violent last year. (Reuters)
11:10 A.M. Iran and major powers are set to hold multilateral and bilateral nuclear talks in coming days in Vienna, Iran's foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
"I think that we will have bilateral and multilateral talks before the end of the next week in Vienna," ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said when asked when Iran and its negotiating partners would next meet. She was speaking at a news conference carried live on state television. (Reuters)
10:44 A.M. Iran's President Hassan Rohani says Tehran and world powers agree on the principles of a final deal on the Iranian nuclear program but that differences remain on the "details" that still need to be negotiated. He says that Iran and the six-nation group — the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany — have come a long way in sorting out major issues but that they still differ over issues such as "quantity."
Rohani did not elaborate. He spoke with lawmakers on Tuesday night, according to the Iranian state television. The two sides face a November 24 deadline to reach a comprehensive deal. The nuclear talks reportedly remain stuck over the size and output of Iran uranium enrichment program, a possible pathway to nuclear arms. (AP)
9:17 A.M. Washington is concerned by Turkey's reluctance to engage Islamic State militants in the Syrian border town of Kobane, a news report said Wednesday.
"There's growing angst about Turkey dragging its feet to act to prevent a massacre less than a mile from is border," an unnamed senior administration official was quoted as saying by the New York Times.
Islamic State is close to taking the town of Kobane, in the ethnic Kurdish area of Syria, from the defending Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), officials said Tuesday, as U.S.-led airstrikes pounded the militants' positions.
"After all the fulminating about Syria's humanitarian catastrophe, [Turkey is] inventing reasons not to act to avoid another catastrophe," the official said. "This isn't how a NATO ally acts while hell is unfolding a stone's through from their border." (DPA)
4:03 A.M. Canada's Parliament has voted to authorize air strikes against the Islamic State militant group in Iraq following a U.S. request. The motion passed 157-134 Tuesday.
The motion authorizes air strikes in Iraq for up to six months and explicitly states that no ground troops be used in combat operations. The combat mission includes up to six CF-18 fighter jets, a refueling tanker aircraft, two surveillance planes and one airlift aircraft. About 600 airmen and airwomen will be involved. (AP)
2:31 A.M. The grave humanitarian crisis in Iraq will become "a deadly life-threatening situation" if shelter isn't found for over 160,000 people in Kurdistan before winter weather arrives in about six weeks, a senior UN official warned Tuesday.
Kevin Kennedy, the deputy humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, also told a news conference by video link from the Kurdish capital Irbil that getting aid to some 500,000 people in need of support in Anbar province, where the Islamic State terrorist group continues to capture territory, is very difficult. (AP)
2:03 A.M. Turkish news agencies say at least 14 people have died and scores were injured in clashes between Turkish police and Kurdish protesters.
The violence Tuesday centered in predominantly Kurdish eastern Turkey, but there were clashes across Turkey and Europe as demonstrators demanded more action against the Islamic State group's advance on a town on the Syrian-Turkish border.
Turkey's private Dogan news agency reported 8 dead in the eastern city of Diyarbakir and the others in cities in the east as police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse protesters who burned cars and damaged businesses. Curfews were imposed in five Turkish provinces. There were also clashes in western cities, including Ankara and Istanbul. (AP)
Tuesday:
11:30 P.M. The United States stepped up discussions with Turkey on Tuesday over Ankara's role in a U.S.-led coalition that is fighting Islamic State militants, who were closing in on a key Syrian town on the Turkish border. NATO member Turkey has not joined the U.S.-led coalition against the Sunni insurgents, saying the campaign should also remove Syrian President Bashar Assad.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has spoken twice in recent days with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, once on Monday night and again on Tuesday morning, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a regular briefing.
"Turkey is determining what larger role they will play going forward and that conversation is ongoing," Psaki said. "They have indicated their openness to doing that, so there is an active conversation about that." (Reuters)
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