US warplanes renewed air strikes against Islamic State militants near the Syrian town of Kobane as Iraqi peshmerga soldiers prepare to reinforce their fellow Kurds in the border area, according to US military sources.
US fighter jets and bombers on Tuesday and Wednesday carried out eight air raids near Kobane, targeting six vehicles, a building and several IS fighting positions over the past 24 hours.
US Central Command said that unmanned drones and fighter jets conducted six bombing raids in Iraq, including three near Sinjar in the north and three around Fallujah, west of Baghdad.
The peshmerga forces are travelling through eastern Turkey en route for the Syrian town of Kobane to help the local Kurdish militia that has held out against an assault by IS militants for weeks.
The fighters aim to help fellow Kurds break a siege by the Islamic State group, which has defied US-led air strikes.
Weeks of air strikes on IS positions around Kobane and the deaths of hundreds of their fighters have failed to break the siege.
Syrian Kurds and their international allies hope the arrival of the peshmerga, along with heavier weapons, can turn the tide.
The peshmerga are expected to enter Kobane later today.
The convoy is heading for the southeast Turkish province of Sanliurfa from where it will cross into Kobane.
Locals gathered on the roadside waving flags and celebrating as military convoy drove past.
Riot police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Smoke was seen rising from Kobane this morning from the Turkish border town of Mursitpinar, as the sound of gunfire echoed through the Turkish side of the border.
Meanwhile, a group of fighters from the rebel Free Syrian Army crossed into Syria from Turkey overnight.
It is believed that up to 150 fighters crossed into Syria in several buses.
