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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrian Kurds, on the offensive, push deeper into Islamic State territory |
| 2015-06-23 |
| [Dhaka Tribune] Kurdish-led forces yesterday advanced deep into territory in Syria held by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... , showing new momentum after they unexpectedly swiftly seized a border crossing from the jihadists last week. The Kurds, aided by US-led air strikes and smaller Syrian rebel groups, have pushed to within 7 km of Ain Issa, a town 50 km north of Islamic State's de facto capital Raqqa city, said Redur Xelil, front man for the Kurdish forces. The rapid advance into Raqqa province has defied expectations of a protracted battle between the Kurdish YPG group and Islamic State fighters, who waged a four-month battle for the border town of Kobani, where the Kurds finally defeated the jihadists in January. Raqqa is the main seat of power in Syria for Islamic State, commonly known as IS, which has proclaimed a caliphate from territory it controls in both Syria and Iraq. The United States has been leading an air campaign against the group in both countries since last year. The Kurds have been the most important partner so far for the US-led campaign in Syria, where Washington has fewer allies on the ground than in Iraq. The Kurdish front in northern Syria has been one of the few sources of good news for the global campaign against IS since the jihadists made major advances last month in western Iraq and central Syria. A front man for the Pentagon said last week IS forces had appeared to "crack" at the Turkish border town of Tel Abyad, which fell to the YPG in less than two days, cutting IS' supply route from ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... . The YPG-led forces were now battling IS on the outskirts of a military base to the southwest of Ain Issa, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Some refugees from the Tel Abyad area had accused the YPG of driving Arabs and Turkmen from territory seized from IS. Kurdish officials deny forcing people out and say such accusations are being made to stir up ethnic strife, with the Observatory saying no evidence of systematic abuse by YPG had been documented. The Kurdish advance alarms the Turkish government, which is worried battlefield successes inflaming ethnic unrest among its own Kurdish population. The Kurdish administration's growing strength has led to friction with the Damascus government, which has tended to avoid direct conflict with the Kurds during the four-year war while maintaining a foothold in areas where the Kurds hold sway. |
| Posted by:Fred |