Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant (ISIL) militants took hold of 21 villages and surrounded a Kurdish city on Thursday resulting to the Kurds asking for help to stop the militants' progress.

The Kurdish city. identified as Ayn al-arab, or Kobani as the Kurds call it, is located at the northern part of Syria.

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The attack came two days after the top military officer of the United States said the Syrian opposition will need the help of Syrian Kurds in defeating ISIL. U.S. President Barack Obama has said earlier said that the U.S. will be training Syrian rebels to help in dismantling the extremist group.

The ISIL fighters were said to be heavily armed and used tanks when they took over the villages near Kobani, reports the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The attacks started on Tuesday night and in 24 hours, all the 21 villages were seized. Kobani is reportedly not yet under the attack but the Kurds fear that the militants will soon be attacking the city.

According to the deputy head of the Kurdish forces based in Kobani, Ocalan Iso, they have lost touch with many of the residents that lived in the 21 villages attacked.

Iso noted that the militants have committed multiple massacres and had kidnapped the villages' women. There was even a report that all 28 members of one family have been taken as captives. 

Just this Wednesday, YPG, the main Kurdish armed group in northern Syria, posted a video that showed the Kurdish fighters battling an ISIL tank that attacked them west of Kobani.

From the time of the attack, about 3,000 people have arrived at the Turkish border after fleeing Kobani. A spokesman from YPG, Redur Xelil, noted that the ISIL has the city surrounded.

The Kurds have been asking aid especially from other Kurdish groups such as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), specifically to help them thwart the ISIL attacks that have been going on since July. PKK on the other hand asked the youth to join in the fight in Kobani.

The United States continues to expand its military activities in Syria by flying drones over Aleppo province, a territory now controlled by the ISIL.

Last week, Obama noted that the military forces will not hesitate to strike the militants in Syria, where most ISIL bases are believed to be located. 

TagsKurdish forces, military aid, 21 villages seized by ISIL, attacked, Kurdish city surrounded, United States President Barack Obama