DAMASCUS, Oct. 10 -- The Islamic State (IS) militants are "desperately" fighting to advance and capture a border crossing between the predominantly Kurdish city of Kobane and the Turkish borders in northern Syria, the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Friday.

Despite the renewed strikes by the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition against the IS positions in Kobane overnight and early Friday, the al-Qaida-offshoot fighters are desperately trying to advance into the strategic Kurdish city in a bid to capture the border crossing with Turkey, said the Observatory.

It said the IS fighters are sending in weapons and munitions on motorcycles to their comrades in the contested city, which has seen some of the worse shelling and fighting over the past three weeks since the IS unleashed its crushing offensive for the control of Kobane, Syria's third largest Kurdish city.

The IS also pounded the areas near the border crossing, according to the Observatory, a monitoring group that relies on a network of activists on ground.

Meanwhile, the clashes between the IS and the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, continued Friday at the city eastern chunk, said the Observatory, adding that the YPG fighters have withdrawn from a hill in the western countryside of Kobane.

The capture of the city would enable the IS to link their self- declared capital of al-Raqqa province with Kobane and stretch their territory onto the borders with Turkey.

The Observatory said earlier that the IS has captured one-third of Kobane amid violent clashes.

Separately, the Observatory said nine people were killed and many others wounded on Friday morning as a result of the government troops' shelling against the rebel-held town of Hara in the southern province of Daraa. It said the death toll is likely to rise due to the severity of some injuries.

Meanwhile, the state news agency SANA said the Syrian government forces killed undisclosed number of rebels, who had attempted to infiltrate the Jub al-Jarrah suburb in the western countryside of the central province of Homs.

The troops also hit a weapon-packed vehicle on a road in the countryside of Homs, destroying the car and killing its occupants.

The Syrian troops have been deadlocked in endless battles with an array of rebel groups, including al-Qaida-affiliated ones, during the country's long-running conflict that has claimed the lives of over 190,000 people since the crisis erupted in mid-March 2011.