Turkey will let a U.S.-led coalition use its bases to battle ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq, American defense officials said Sunday, as Syrian Kurdish defenders in the border town of Ain al-Arab held off the jihadists following days of advances.



Beyond the training and bases, there are other items the U.S. hopes Turkey will agree to.



As night fell Sunday, the town center was under heavy artillery and mortar fire, Ocalan Iso, deputy head of the Kobani defense council, said by Skype from inside the town.



The fighting has taken place within view of Turkish tanks at the frontier, but Turkey has refused to intervene to help defend the city, infuriating its own 15 million-strong Kurdish minority, which rose up in the past week in days of rioting in which 38 people were killed.



The heavily outgunned Kurdish defenders say they want Turkey to let them bring in reinforcements and weapons to fend off ISIS, who seized heavy artillery and tanks seized from the fleeing Iraqi army in June.



Turkey's foreign minister said a corridor allowing weapons and volunteer fighters from Turkey to reach Ain al-Arab was unrealistic.

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