The main Kurdish armed group in Syria called on its kinsmen across the region to help it stop a massacre in the Syrian town of Kobani as Islamic State militants armed with tanks edged closer on its outskirts and pummeled it with artillery fire, Reuters reported.

Islamic State's battlefield gains in recent months have come as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces have focused on other rebel groups. On Friday, Oct 3 the army advanced on the city of Aleppo further west, threatening rebel supply lines in a potentially major reversal.

U.S.-led forces have been bombing Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq but the action has done little to stop the group's advance in northern Syria towards the Turkish border, piling pressure on Ankara to intervene.

Canada said it would send fighter jets and other aircraft to take part in the U.S.-led strikes on Islamic State in Iraq for a period of up to six months.

Turkey said it would do what it could to prevent Kobani, a predominantly Kurdish town just over its southern border, from falling into Islamic State. It has stopped short of committing to any direct military intervention and Syria warned on Friday against any Turkish "aggression" on its territory.

A statement issued by the YPG, the main Kurdish armed group, vowed "never ending" resistance to Islamic State in its advance on Kobani. "Every street and house will be a grave for them."

"Our call to all the young men and women of Kurdistan ... is to come to be part of this resistance."