Jihadists captured the headquarters of Kurdish fighters defending the battleground Syrian town of Kobane Friday as a U.N. envoy warned of a looming "massacre" by the Islamic State group.

Outgunned Kurdish militia were struggling to prevent the jihadists closing off the last escape route for the thousands of civilians still in or near the town, prompting an appeal for urgent military assistance.

A joint U.S.-Turkish military team will meet next week in Ankara to discuss the fight against Islamic militants after Washington Thursday pressed Turkey to join a U.S.-led coalition.

Two top U.S. envoys met Thursday in Ankara with Turkish leaders seeking to win their NATO ally's support to defeat the Islamic State (IS) group, which has seized a swath of territory in Iraq and Syria.

The founder of U.S. yogurt brand Chobani said Thursday he has given $2 million for Iraqi and Syrian refugees massed along Turkey's borders.

The money from Chobani creator Hamdi Ulukaya will go to items that are urgently needed as winter approaches, such as tents, blankets and food, a statement said.

Iran has begun talks with Turkey aimed at convincing it to prevent Islamic State group jihadists from taking the key Syrian border town of Kobane, an official said on Thursday.

"Iran will take any action to help the Kurdish (people) of Kobane in the framework of the support that it provides to the Syrian government to combat terrorism," Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdollahian said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

Deadly protests in Turkey over the government's policy on Islamic State (IS) militants are aimed at sabotaging the fragile peace process between Kurdish rebels and Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday.

"It's very obvious that this game is aimed at sabotaging the peaceful environment in the east and southeast as well as the peace process and our brotherhood," Erdogan said in his first comments on the unrest that has left at least 22 people dead.

Over 1,000 Kurds again took to German streets overnight, watched by riot police, a day after 23 people were hurt in clashes between Kurds and radical Muslims, police said Thursday.

In the latest protests in the northern port city of Hamburg, police confiscated weapons including machetes, baseball bats and one gun but managed to avoid large-scale confrontations.

Advancing Islamic State fighters seized control of a third of the Syrian border town of Kobane Thursday, as Turkey rejected sending in troops on its own against the jihadists.

Despite intensified U.S.-led air strikes, IS militants captured more ground in overnight fighting that killed dozens, as calls grew for ground action to support Kobane's beleaguered Kurdish defenders.

President Barack Obama conferred with commanders Wednesday on the "difficult" fight against Islamic State jihadists as the U.S. military warned air power alone could not prevent the group from seizing a key Syrian border town.

After a meeting with top brass at the Pentagon, Obama said there would be no easy victory against the IS group but said a growing international coalition was resolved to confront the Sunni extremists rampaging in Iraq and Syria.

Pro-Kurdish protesters angered by the Turkish government's lack of action against jihadists in Syria clashed for the third night running with police as the death toll from the violence rose to 22, officials said Thursday.

To the fury of Turkey's Kurds, Ankara has not intervened militarily against Islamic State (IS) jihadists trying to take the mainly Kurdish Syrian town of Kobane on the Turkish border.

France said Wednesday it backed a proposal by Ankara to create a safe zone along its border with Syria to ensure Turkey's security and host refugees fleeing Islamic State militants.

In a phone call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Francois Hollande "gave his support to the idea... of creating a buffer zone between Syria and Turkey to host and protect displaced people," the French presidency said in a statement.