Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party on Saturday called for the blockade on the Kurdish-majority city of Kobane in northern Syria to be lifted immediately, warning of a "humanitarian tragedy".

The situation in Kobane had escalated from a crisis into a "deadly catastrophe", DEM said after sending a delegation to visit northeastern Syria which over the past week has been targeted by a major Syrian military offensive. 

Originally published on doc.afp.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.