Kobane: US and UK warn of airstrike limitations

The US and UK have warned that air strikes alone will not prevent Islamic State (IS) fighters from seizing the Syrian town of Kobane, the BBC reported.

A Pentagon spokesman said the US and its allies were "doing everything we can from the air" but there were limits to what the campaign could achieve.

Similar views were expressed by British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

A Kurdish leader in Kobane told Reuters news agency IS militants had entered parts of the city amid heavy fighting.

Seizing the town would give the IS jihadists full control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.

The US also appeared to be at odds with allies over a Turkish idea to create a buffer zone or safe haven along the border.

Three weeks of fighting over Kobane has cost the lives of 400 people, and forced more than 160,000 Syrians to flee across the border to Turkey.

"Air strikes alone are not going to save the town of Kobane," Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm John Kirby said. "We know that. And we've been saying that over and over again."

He said that ultimately rebel fighters in Syria and Iraqi troops would have to defeat IS militants, but it would take time.

"We don't have a willing, capable, effective partner on the ground inside Syria right now," he said, warning that other towns could also fall to the IS.