The move allows the deployment of Turkish armed forces in the two neighbouring countries, as well as the transit of foreign forces in Turkish territory for operations against Islamic State (IS) militants.
The broad mandate does not commit Turkey to sending soldiers into Syria and Iraq, where IS has captured large areas, declaring an Islamic "caliphate" and committing widespread atrocities.
In Iraq IS launched attacks on two police and army bases that left dozens dead, mostly militants.
Heavy mortar fire around the town was heard across the Turkish border, an AFP correspondent reported.
Also Read
"There are real fears that the IS may be able to advance into the town of Kobane itself very soon," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights warned.
The Britain-based watchdog reported fresh US-led air strikes on the advancing jihadists overnight after the heavily outgunned Kurdish fighters were forced to fall back west and southeast of the town, also known as Ain al-Arab.
"They are closer, two to three kilometres (less than two miles) in some places," Idris Nahsen told AFP by telephone.
"Compared to IS, our weaponry is simple. They have cannons, long-range rockets and tanks."
The UN human rights chief described the array of violations and abuses perpetrated by IS and associated groups as "staggering".
"Many of their acts may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity," Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said.
His office accused the jihadists of crimes "on a massive scale," including beheadings, abductions, torture and forcing women and young girls into sexual slavery.
"Kobane is practically empty of its residents now," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The town would be a major prize for IS, giving it unbroken control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.