The White House is growing more frustrated with Turkish inaction against Islamic State fighters as Kurdish forces desperately battle to keep the Syrian border town of Kobani from falling into militants’ hands

“The White House is growing more frustrated with Turkish inaction against Islamic State fighters as Kurdish forces desperately battle to keep the Syrian border town of Kobani from falling into militants' hands,” according to a published report.

The New York Times quoted a senior administration official who slammed the Ankara government for "dragging its feet to act to prevent a massacre less than a mile from its border."

"After all the fulminating about Syria’s humanitarian catastrophe, they’re inventing reasons not to act to avoid another catastrophe," the official continued. "This isn’t how a NATO ally acts while hell is unfolding a stone’s throw from their border."

The Times reported that Secretary of State John Kerry had spoken with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu multiple times over the prior 72 hours in an effort to resolve tensions between the two sides.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the U.S.-led coalition's air campaign launched last month would not be enough to halt the ISIL advance. Turkish troops have been massed near the border since the assault on Kobani began, but have so far not taken an offensive posture.

"Kobani is about to fall," Erdogan told Syrian refugees in the Turkish border town of Gaziantep, according to The Associated Press. "We asked for three things: one, for a no-fly zone to be created; two, for a secure zone parallel to the region to be declared; and for the moderate opposition in Syria and Iraq to be trained and equipped."

The Times reported that President Obama prefers that Erdogan not tether the fight against ISIL to the effort to “overthrow” Assad. U.S. officials also tell the paper that Erdogan's demand for a no-fly zone against the Syrian Air Force is meaningless on the grounds that the airstrikes have created a no-fly zone in all but name.

On Tuesday, U.S. Central Command said that five strikes against ISIL positions and hardware near Kobani had been carried out over the past two days. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Tuesday that airstrikes were helping fight off the ultra-radical militants who are laying siege to the town.

"We're assisting them by doing the air strikes that we have undergone over the past several days. Certainly we've seen that has been useful, not only there but in Iraq and other places we've done them," she said.

Also Tuesday, the United Nations envoy for Syria issued a call for "concrete action" to prevent "humanitarian tragedies."

"The world has seen with its own eyes the images of what happens when a city in Syria or in Iraq is overtaken by the terrorist group called ISIS or Da'esh: massacres, humanitarian tragedies, rapes, horrific violence," Staffan De Mistura said. "The international community cannot sustain another city falling under ISIL.

"The world, all of us, will regret deeply if ISIS is able to take over a city which has defended itself with courage but is close to not being able to do so," De Mistura added. "We need to act now."