REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, WARWAW -- The new head of NATO said Monday it would protect member Turkey against attacks from the jihadist Islamic State (ISIS) group, which is fighting to capture territory in Iraq and Syria near the Turkish border.

"Turkey is a NATO ally and our main responsibility is to protect the integrity, the borders of Turkey," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters.

"We have deployed Patriot missiles in Turkey, to enhance, to strengthen the air defence of Turkey. And Turkey should know that NATO will be there if there is any spillover, any attacks on Turkey as a consequence of the violence we see in Syria."

Stoltenberg spoke after meeting with Poland's defence and foreign ministers in Warsaw, his first foreign visit since taking office last week.

He will also visit Turkey, which is struggling to cope with the spillover from the Syrian and Iraq conflicts.

"I would also like to welcome the actions taken by the United States, of the NATO allies and regional partners to fight ISIL," he said, referring to air strikes targeting IS in Syria and Iraq.

Turkish lawmakers last week authorised the government to join the campaign against IS, but so far no military plans have been announced.

IS, an extremist Sunni Muslim group, has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq, where it has been accused of carrying out widespread atrocities, including mass executions, abductions, torture and forcing women into slavery.

IS militants on Monday attempted again to storm the key Syrian town of Kobane on the Turkish border but Kurdish fighters fought off the fresh assault.

IS began its advance on Kobane on September 16, seeking to cement its grip over a long stretch of the Syria-Turkey border.

The offensive prompted a mass exodus from the town and surrounding countryside, with some 186,000 people fleeing into Turkey.

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