It seems clear the Turks have succumbed to pressure from their American and Iraqi Kurdish allies. All initially shared the view that Kobane would quickly fall and that it was of little strategic importance. Moreover, it was being defended by Syrian Kurds allied to the left-wing PKK in Turkey which both Turkey and the US had deemed to be a “terrorist” organization for waging an armed struggle for Kurdish independence.
The American political and military establishment came to the defence of Kobani when it became clear the heroic defence of the town against the barbaric zealots of ISIS had gained worldwide attention and support, including within the US and the territory of Iraq controlled by Masoud Barzani’s Kurdish Regional Government. As Al Jazeera reported recently, Barzani’s base of support in Iraq had begun deserting him because of his hesitant support of the young women and men fighters in Kobani, and this has had to be a factor in the American decision to prevent the fall of Kobani, alongside the need to shatter ISIS’ aura of military invincibility which was drawing recruits to it from across the region and elsewhere. Evidently, the Turks and Americans are hoping their intervention will shore up Barzani at home and displace the leftist PKK in Turkey and PYD in Syria.