ISIL closes in on Syrian town on the border with Turkey

Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have closed in on Kobani, a key Kurdish town in Syria, near the border with Turkey, prompting Ankara to deploy tanks to protect its territory.

Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from Turkey's southern border, said ISIL fighters had moved within one mile of Kobani, which the fighters aim to conquer in order to consolidate their control of territory.

Turkish tanks and armored vehicles took up positions near the border on Monday after shells and mortars from Syria hit Turkish villages. At least 15 tanks were positioned, some with guns pointing toward Syrian territory. 

Intensified shelling in and around Kobani has angered Kurds on the Turkish side of the border, who said the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was not doing enough to stop the assault.

Smith said Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was expected to meet military commanders on Tuesday to spell out Ankara's strategy against ISIL.

"The prime minister is expected to present two motions to parliament authorizing Turkish forces to operate in both Iraq and Syria and to allow foreign forces to use Turkish soil in operations against ISIL," Smith said.

The government previously said it would submit motions to parliament authorizing armed forces to take action in Iraq and Syria so Ankara could join the U.S.-led coalition against ISIL.

Turkey previously refused to join the broad coalition while dozens of its citizens, including diplomats and children, were being held after being abducted by ISIL from the Turkish consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. They were released earlier this month.

Activists reported that coalition air raids on Tuesday targeted three ISIL-held villages five miles west of Kobani and one air attack struck an ISIL base in a residential area east of the town.

On Monday the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said U.S.-led airstrikes hit grain silos in the northern Syrian town of Manbij in an area controlled by ISIL, killing civilians.

Strikes on a building on a road leading out of the town also killed a number of ISIL fighters, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory, which gathers information from sources in Syria.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify the casualties.

Al Jazeera and wire services