Barack Obama and his military commanders played host in Washington yesterday to defence officials from more than 20 nations enrolled in the coalition against Islamic State (Isis) in Syria and Iraq.

Administration officials said that the meeting was focused on military strategy and ways to bolster the campaign to counter the extremists.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel called the meeting an important effort to further co-ordinate and organise the international fight against Isis.

“They will be working through those specific areas and defining specific contributions that these nations will make,” he said on Monday after meeting hemispheric defence ministers in Arequipa, Peru.

However, in bringing together his traditionally most consistent allies in Washington, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, France and Turkey, Mr Obama was also admitting the sharp divisions that exist.

Washington is pushing the government in Ankara to play a larger role in taking on the extremists, especially in the fight to defend Kobane just over Turkey’s border in Syria.

US officials announced on Sunday that Turkey would allow US-led coalition forces use its bases, including Incirlik, for operations against Isis, but Ankara denied this, saying that they would hold deeper talks in the coming days.

The government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists that any action against his fellow Islamists must be linked to the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and quashing any notions of Kurdish self-determination.

Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) announced the capture yesterday of the strategic Tel Shair hill that overlooks parts of Kobane and removal of the jihadists’ black flag that had fluttered there.

The Kurds’ capture of the hill followed air raids upon it by the US-led force.

Local official Idriss Nassan said that intensive air strikes had hit Isis fighters around the town.

However, Isis continues to hold around a third of Kobane after carrying out at least three suicide bombings against the defenders, allowing the group to push forward and to capture a cultural centre.

Syrian Kurdish leader Saleh Muslim Mohammed of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) arrived in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region yesterday to discuss Kobane with local officials.