The advancement of the Islamic State group (IS) militants on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani near the Syria-Turkey border has alarmed many Iranian citizens, resulting in protests and even an op-ed by an Iranian news site asking the head of Iran’s Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, to take action.
Protests broke out in several Kurdish cities in western Iran, as well as other cities across country including Tabriz, Mashhad and Tehran itself in front of the Turkish Embassy to express their support for Kobani. Human rights and dissident activists were also in attendance at some of the protests. Iranian Kurdish musicians Shahram Nazeri and Sedigh Tarif have also gone on hunger strike to bring attention to the plight of Kurds in Kobani.