With U.S. airplanes pounding Islamic State fighters around Kobani, much-awaited Iraqi Kurdish forces joined the 40-day battle Saturday after passing through a once-reluctant Turkey to fight.

The Iraqi Kurds came fully equipped with heavy weapons to try to tip the balance in the ongoing fight for the Syrian Kurd enclave on the Turkish border that has assumed a psychological importance far surpassing it's strategic military value.

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Some 150 peshmerga -- or "those who defy death" -- fighters from Iraq remained poised on the Turkish side before entering the bloody battle late in the day.

Their presence represented Turkey's relenting under considerable U.S. and allied pressure on its stance that Kurdish fighters shouldn't be allowed into Kobani. Turkey long has opposed Kurdish sovereignty claims in its country and abroad.

With the Iraqi Kurds ready to go, allied air strikes continued in earnest. While the air campaign hasn't turned ISIS away from the embattled town, it has slowed their advance and given defenders a fighting chance at retaining the town that once was home to 60,000 people.

The town's population had swelled to almost 400,000 people this year as refugees streamed there to avoid ISIS before those refugees had to evacuate to Turkey.

Fighters in Kobani had called for more, and heavier, weapons, to confront ISIS fighters equipped with heavy equipment taken from the retreating Iraqi army earlier this year. Idris Nassan, Kobani district deputy foreign minister, told Reuters the whole issue in Kobani was the ammunition, weapons adding, "Of course, more fighters will help."

Speaking from inside Kobani on telephone, Nassan said the influx of fighters and heavy weapons "will help tip the balance of the battle."

Meanwhile, 10 U.S. airstrikes against ISIS militants, including five near Kobani, were said to have "suppressed or destroyed" a building and nine ISIS fighting positions. Aside from Kobani, U.S. aircraft struck southwest of Mosul Dam and hit buildings and vehicles used by ISIS around Al Qaim, according to a U.S. military statement.

TagsKobani, Kurds, fighters, Iraq, ISIS, Peshmerga, Turkey