Western Kurdistan's People's Defence Units (YPG) could not avoid last night that Islamic State (IS) jihadists for the first time reached Kobanê town outskirts. According to RFI correspondent on the Turkish-Syrian border Jérôme Bastion, a series of airstrikes by the US-led coalition were able to stop Islamist advance by midnight. Bastion however warns that "it is clear that the Kurds no longer have means to resist the advance of the jihadists."

Kurdish Firat News agency today reported that the YPG have formed defense lines within the town as Kobanê faced the prospect of an imminent assault. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights later said that the jihadists are hundreds of meters from the town.

(The evolution of the frontline between 14th and 27th September can be seen. The current line is right at the gates of the town. Map by @desyracuse.)

It is indeed effective strikes on IS positions and the delivery of weapons toYPG militias what Western Kurdistan political and military leaders have been asking for weeks -with little success up till now. Coalition attacks have so far been very selective, not preventing the jihadists from reaching the outskirts of the town and occupying all the rest of the Kobanê canton.

These events are very different from those that developped in Erbil in August. South Kurdistan (Iraq) capital city was then under jihadist threat. US planes immediately bombed IS positions, keeping the Kurdish city safe. The United States have their own consulate in Erbil and significant oil interests in the area.

Turkey's role deserves another explanation. Lying just across the border, Turkey has the best geographical position to attack IS militants, even if only to prevent a massacre from being held in Kobanê if the town falls to jihadist control. Turkey has however not even decided to join the US-led coalition. A few days ago Ankara deployed tanks along the Kobanê border and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday vowed to "fight effectively against both [IS] and all other terrorist organisations within the region," with no further specification.

The President of Western Kurdistan, Salih Muslim, blamed Turkey for obstructing coalition efforts against IS: Anakara does not "want the Kurds to be able to defend themselves.", he said. The President of the canton of Kobanê, Anwar Moslem, recently argued that the current IS offensive on Kobanê had coincided with the arrival of "trains full of forces and ammunition" from Turkey to IS-controlled areas. Kurdish sources had earlier blamed Turkey for providing health care to IS wounded militiamen in Turkish hospitals.

The leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, has meanwhile warned that the peace process between his organization and the Turkish state will end if Ankara allows the Islamic State to commit a massacre in Kobanê.

A Turkish "buffer zone" to put an end to West Kurdish self-rule?

YPG commanders hold that Turkey is in fact interested in the fall of Kobanê because the immediate effect would be the loss of the canton's Kurdish self-government. According to this theory, the Turkish government could shortly after argue that IS fighters are threatening Turkey's southern border, which would open the door to heavy bombings on IS positions. After that, a buffer zone would be created in northern Syria. This would give Ankara increased leverage in the region.

This theory, however, leaves several questions open. The scope of the would-be buffer zone is not specified, whether it would be an on-the-ground strip or only a no-fly zone, for instance. In the first case, it should known whether the effective occupation of the territory would be made by Turkish troops or by some Ankara-allied Syrian group. The first option presents problems starting with the fact that it would amount to a foreign occupation -it seems impossible that Bashar Al-Assad's government gives green light to it. It would still to be seen what the stance adopted by the US, Russia and Iran would be, and whether Turkey would adopt unilateral decisions or rather the United Nations would drive the establishment of the buffer zone.

Apart from all this, it should be recalled that Kobanê is just one of three autonomous cantons of Western Kurdistan. The canton of Efrîn (north of Aleppo) and the canton of Cizîrê (bordering South Kurdistan) continue to exist, although both face IS threats too.