Battle for Kobani, Turkey and U.S. strategy against ISIS

Guests: Liz Sly, Steven Cook, Frederic Wehrey

Kurdish fighters held off Islamic State militants in the besieged Syrian city of Kobani over the weekend. Kobani, which borders Turkey, has been battered by ISIS for almost four weeks and the UN has warned that if the Kurdish town falls to the jihadists, thousands will be massacred. The Turkish government has thus far refused to fight against the Islamic State forces, however they recently agreed to allow Syrian opposition fighters to train on their bases. This hour, we get an update on the battle for Kobani, discuss Turkey’s reluctance to get involved, and analyze U.S. strategy in Syria and Iraq. Our guests are LIZ SLY, Washington Post’s Beirut bureau chief, STEVEN COOK, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and FREDERIC WEHREY, Senior Associate, Middle East Program Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.