UN: ISIS Atrocities Loom in Besieged Border Town

The world has seen the "massacres, humanitarian tragedies, rapes, horrific violence," and other atrocities that unfold when ISIS seizes a town—and it needs to act now to stop the same happening in the Syrian border city of Kobani, a UN official warns. The UN special envoy for Syria warns that the city that Kurds from around the region have fled to is about to fall and ISIS flags have already gone up over some neighborhoods, Fox reports. "The world, all of us, will regret deeply if ISIS is able to take over a city which has defended itself with courage but is close to not being able to do so," he says. In other developments:

• Fighting continued around Kobani overnight, with Kurdish fighters assisted by more airstrikes from the US-led coalition, reports the BBC. It's not clear which side currently has the upper hand, although the ISIS advance appears to have been halted.

• Senior American officials tell CNN that Kobani will probably fall soon, but that isn't a major US concern. The main US goal, they say, isn't saving Syrian cities from ISIS but going after its leadership and resources, especially in Iraq, say the officials, who would like Turkey to do more about the crisis just over its border.
• In Turkey, at least 14 people were killed and dozens more injured as Kurds protesting the country's failure to act against ISIS clashed with police in several cities, reports the AP. In Hamburg, Germany, more than a dozen people were injured when Kurdish protesters clashed with members of a hard-line Islamist group.
• The US has a new partner against ISIS: Lawmakers in Canada have voted 157 to 134 to send Canadian aircraft to join strikes against ISIS in Iraq, reports the CBC. "If left unchecked, this terrorist organization will grow and grow quickly," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement. "They have already voiced their local and international terrorist intentions and identified Canada as a potential target."

(More Kobani stories.)