Islamic State fighters have zeroed in on the besieged Syrian town of Kobani on Saturday, where hundreds of desperate civilians are trapped, defended by the heavily outgunned Kurdish militiamen who have sworn to fight to the death.

Syrian activists and local Kurdish officials who stayed behind with a few hundred Kurdish fighters said, the Islamic State is assailing the city from three fronts.

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The Islamists have gained control of up to half of the town on the frontier with Turkey, including government and security buildings used by the Kurds as strongholds.

A group monitoring the Syrian civil war said, the city will fall if Turkey continues to refuse letting arms and reinforcement troops through-something President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has so far appeared prepared to do.   

On Friday, a U.N. representative called on Ankara to help abate possible massacre of Kobani by opening Turkey's border to Kurd "volunteers" to join the ranks of those defending the city, Reuters reported.

On separate occasions last week, U.S. and Kurdish officials appealed for Turkey to ease on its non-intervention policy in Kobani.

Kobani is one of three Syrian areas where the PKK and its affiliates, largely considered by Turkey and its Western allies as terrorists, have established self-rule. Turkey has remained irresponsive to appeals.  

Meanwhile, the U.S.-led coalition has escalated its airstrikes against Islamist targets around Kobani in the last four days. But the strikes appear to do little to blunt the insurgents' bloody advance against the city, according to Associated Press.

The Syrian town bordering Turkey is the latest focus of the Islamic State fighters, who have seized territories across western and northern Iraq and Syria since summer.  Capturing Kobani would give the group full control of positions stretching across the Turkish-Syrian border, while crushing the final pockets of resisting forces in the region.  

TagsIslamic State in Syria, Kobani, Turkey, Syria-Turkey border, U.S.-led airstrikes