Near Suruc , Turkey ( CNN ) -- Iraqi-Kurdish Peshmerga fighters began arriving in the besieged northern Syrian city of Kobani from Turkey , two witnesses said Thursday , starting what analysts call a largely symbolic reinforcement of fellow Kurds defending the town from ISIS . About 10 Peshmerga fighters entered Kobani from the Turkish border in two vehicles , an activist and a Syrian Kurd fighter told CNN by phone . The 10 are among about 160 Peshmerga troops that are expected to arrive in Kobani after traveling from Iraq through Turkey , bringing heavy weapons , artillery and gear to help Syrian Kurds in a battle against ISIS for control of the border town . ISIS , the Sunni Muslim extremist militant group , has been fighting to take Kobani for about six weeks , hoping to add it to the territory it already captured in parts of Syria and Iraq for what it calls its new independent Islamic nation . Syria has been embroiled in a three-year civil war , with government troops battling ISIS and other rebels elsewhere , leaving Kobani 's ethnic Kurds to defend the city , with U.S. airstrikes -- part of a larger U.S.-led coalition effort against ISIS in the region -- intermittently taking out ISIS targets in the area . The supplies and troops , though roughly an infantry company-sized contingent , would boost Kobani 's defenders somewhat , given that they 've seen few reinforcements since ISIS ' siege of the city began in mid-September . The Peshmerga troops join about 200 Syrian rebels who , according to Syrian rebel commander Col. Abdul Jabar , entered Kobani at dawn Wednesday . Peshmerga troops -- Kurds who defend northern Iraq 's semiautonomous Kurdish region -- are no strangers to ISIS , having battled them often this year as the militant group tries to expand its Iraqi territory . Tens of thousands of civilians fled Kobani and surrounding areas into Turkey to avoid the fighting . What impact will the Peshmerga fighters have ? Though the Syrian Kurds will welcome the Peshmerga , the troop movement does n't necessarily signal a major shift in the fight , analysts say . `` In terms of a major war that 's of some significance to U.S. national security , the arrival of 150 militiamen to an area is probably not of tectonic significance , '' Steve Biddle , a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations , told CNN Wednesday . Most tacticians consider Kobani to be of little inherent strategic interest in the fight against ISIS , Washington Institute defense fellow Jeff White said Wednesday . The city has attracted a lot of international media attention , in part because it lies just across the border from Turkey , giving journalists a clear vantage point to report on the battle there . ISIS is also reinforcing its contingent in Kobani , White said , setting out the prospect of a protracted fight over the city . But there is some military significance , analysts say . The fight for Kobani continues to give U.S. and allied forces the opportunity to bloody ISIS there , and to keep its forces tied up , White said . `` As long as the city does n't fall , it works to the advantage of the U.S. strategy , '' he said . `` The ISIS guys who are fighting in the city are n't available to fight somewhere else . '' The Turkish role . With ISIS controlling the Syrian land surrounding Kobani , the Peshmerga 's easiest path into the city was through Turkey . And Turkey 's decision to let the Peshmerga traverse Turkish territory represented a major policy shift . The Syrian Kurdish fighters , part of the People 's Protection Units , or YPG , have ties to the Kurdistan Workers ' Party , or PKK , which has fought a 30-year guerrilla war against the government of Turkey , where about 20 % of the population is Kurdish . Turkey , the European Union and United States consider the PKK a terrorist organization . Earlier this month , Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Syrian Kurdish and ISIS militants were `` terrorists . '' The Turkish government also has bristled at the United States ' efforts to parachute weapons , ammunition and medicine to YPG fighters . But while Turkey did nothing to intervene in Kobani , Kurds protested in Turkish streets . More than 30 people were killed in cities across the country this month as ethnic Kurds clashed with Islamist and nationalist groups , as well as Turkish police . CNN 's Raja Razek reported from near Suruc , Turkey , and CNN 's Michael Pearson and Jason Hanna reported and wrote in Atlanta . CNN 's Nick Paton Walsh , Gul Tuysuz , Ivan Watson and Zeynep Bilginsoy contributed to this report .
About 10 of an expected 160 Peshmerga fighters enter Kobani , sources say . The Kurdish forces are now in control of the town and surrounding areas. The arrival of Peshmerga fighters is symbolic , but not a major development , analyst says .