Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has sent 150 Peshmerga paramilitary fighters into Turkey, to be taken across the country’s southern border into the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab in Arabic).

The plan was announced last week with the hope that the Peshmerga fighters would sway the battle in the favor of the Kurds, who have been holding off a growing ISIS force for weeks.

There are considerable doubts over whether or not 150 additional troops, even armed with artillery as they reportedly are, will really be a game-changer, with estimates of thousands of fighters on either side of the battle.

The Peshmerga fighters are expected to enter Kobani at some time overnight, and their leaders say “logistical problems” were behind the delay in sending the troops.

The Assad government was quick to praise the deployment of Peshmerga to Kobani, and has claimed to be providing other Kurdish factions there with military aid, hoping to keep ISIS from advancing deeper into Syria.