Syrian Kurds are believed to be directing some of the American airstrikes. U.S. resupplies fighters in Kobani

American cargo aircraft dropped weapons and supplies on Sunday to the embattled Syrian town of Kobani, but Washington isn’t sure how much longer the Kurdish fighters there can hold out against terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

“Obviously, there are no guarantees in what is a very difficult fight on the ground,” a senior administration official told reporters on Sunday night.


Even so, President Barack Obama ordered the Air Force to drop small arms, ammunition and medical supplies drawn from the stockpiles of Iraq’s Kurdish forces, officials said. Kobani is just inside Syria’s border with Turkey; Obama phoned his Turkish counterpart, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to give him notice before the drop. The officials declined to describe how Erdo?an took the news.

“I won’t characterize the Turkish response,” the senior administration official said. “The Turkish government will have to speak for themselves on the matter.”

Despite public politeness, relations between Washington and Ankara have evidently been strained over Obama’s ongoing war against ISIL in Syria and Iraq. At one point, American defense officials told reporters that Turkey had agreed to host military operations against ISIL terrorists in Syria — then Turkish defense officials told reporters that wasn’t so.

Washington considers Turkey a key ally in the fight against ISIL, but the situation is complicated by the Turkish government’s antipathy toward Syria and Iraq’s Kurdish minorities. Turkish leaders worry about their own Kurdish population, parts of which they call a terrorist threat.

Retired Marine Gen. John Allen and Defense Department officials have visited Turkey to continue making the American case, but evidently the U.S. and Turkey have not yet agreed on where or how they could expand their cooperation in the ongoing fight.

So for now, the U.S. Air Force sent Lockheed Martin-built C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft on a mission to resupply a small number of Syrian Kurds who continue to try to hold off ISIL in Kobani. The senior administration officials who briefed reporters on Sunday night said the possibility remains open for future potential airdrops, and they also vowed that American warplanes would continue pounding ISIL fighters threatening the city.

Syrian Kurds are believed to be directing some of the American airstrikes that the Pentagon says have killed “hundreds” of ISIL terrorists outside of Kobani, but administration officials won’t comment on the source of their targeting or intelligence.

The officials did acknowledge, as the Pentagon said last week, that the U.S. estimates that only a few hundred noncombatant civilians remain in Kobani after weeks of fighting. Most of the population has fled, worsening the huge refugee dilemma that has accompanied the Syrian crisis. But anyone who remains in Kobani would be in danger of atrocities if ISIL were to capture the city, as one senior official said.

That, combined with ISIL’s decision to make a show of force in an attempt to get a propaganda victory, make it important for Washington to do all it can to blunt the offensive and, if possible, keep the city from falling.

“Kobani is important because ISIS has made it one of its focal points and devoted resources to it,” said a second senior administration official, using another name for the terror group.

U.S. Central Command has conducted more than 135 airstrikes in or near Kobani alone, officials said, killing hundreds of terrorists there and destroying vehicles, buildings, supplies and other targets.

But there’s no getting around the reality that the near-term fate of Kobani “remains uncertain and tenuous,” as one senior official said.

The head of Central Command, Gen. Lloyd Austin, also warned reporters at the Pentagon on Friday that ISIL could still capture the city — though he took care to praise the Syrian Kurds holding on there.

“It’s highly possible that Kobani may fall,” Austin said. “But, again, I think the things that we have done here the last several days are encouraging. We’re seeing the Kurds actually fight to regain territory that had been lost previously. So [there are] some very determined fighters up there that have done a yeoman’s work in terms of standing their ground.”

Follow @politico