Following a three-week onslaught that has driven more than 180,000 from the Syrian border town of Kobani, ISIS forces are on the verge of capturing the area, even as the U.S. ramped up airstrikes in the region this week.

The U.S. and Turkey have been at odds, pressuring the other to increase their military presence and assist Kurdish fighters struggling to fend off ISIS militants. "There's growing angst about Turkey dragging its feet to act to prevent a massacre less than a mile from its border," a senior administration official told the New York Times. "After all the fulminating about Syria's humanitarian catastrophe, they're inventing reasons not to act to avoid another catastrophe."

Turkey, the Times reports, is resistant to deploy additional military assistance in the region until the U.S. pledges to provide further support to rebels working to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Reuters reports that a fresh round of airstrikes Wednesday have helped push back ISIS fighters, but Kurdish forces remain outmatched, with defense experts telling the wire service that it is "unlikely that the advance could be halted by air power alone."

[Image via AP]