TALLINN, Estonia: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ankara will allow hundreds of Syrian rebels to head to the embattled town of Kobani along the Syrian-Turkish border to help Kurdish fighters there in the battle against Islamic State militants.

Erdogan said in Estonia on Friday that the Western-backed Free Syrian Army will send 1,300 fighters to the Syrian town. Kurdish Syrian fighters have been battling militants who have been trying to seize Kobani since mid-September. A US-led coalition is also shelling militant positions around the town.

Erdogan told reporters during a tour of Estonia and Latvia that the FSA fighters were negotiating their route with Kurdish forces in the town.

A spokesman for the Western-backed Syrian opposition in exile, Kenan Mohammed, said, however, he was not aware of any such plans.