Kurdish and Arab forces – including U.S.-backed Iraqi troops, Shiite militias linked to Iran, Peshmerga troops, and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – have launched offensives targeting three major Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
The Pentagon has seemingly changed its position on U.S. special operations troops wearing uniform insignia linked to the armed group of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Some Christian Assyrians have reportedly accused the Obama administration-backed Kurdish Democratic Party (PYD) in northern Syria of imposing revisionist education curricula on the Christian Assyrians and Arabs that changes the Old Testament.
Turkish warplanes have renewed airstrikes against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in northern Iraq, Reuters has learned from military sources.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) stands against “any terrorist group” that attacks Turkey, a Pentagon spokesperson indicated to Breitbart News.
The U.S.-backed Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in northern Syria is aligned with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a terrorist organization, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter told a Senate panel, echoing Turkey’s position on the relationship between the two groups.
Kurdish forces have been fighting pro-Bashar al-Assad militiamen in northeast Syria, killing 21, according to a Syrian Kurdish official.
A pro-government news outlet in Turkey has accused the U.S.-backed Democratic Union Party (PYD) of attacking other Kurdish groups in Syria and promoting communist ideology.
President Masoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq echoed Turkey’s position and said the terrorist group known as the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) and the U.S.-backed Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria “are exactly one and the same thing.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The ultimate decision of whether or not Kurds should be allowed to establish their own region in northern Syria lies with the Syrian people, according to the U.S. Department of State (DOS).
Kurds will combine three Kurdish-led autonomous areas in northern Syria into a federal system, Kurdish officials have announced.
A militant group linked to the communist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the United States considers a terrorist group, has claimed responsibility for carrying out the suicide car-bomb attack that killed 37 people in the Turkish capital.
The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which controls large swaths of northern Syria, must refrain from supporting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey, warned U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Most reporting on the Syrian Kurds depicts them as fairly unified behind their Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia against the menace of the Islamic State. In truth, there are Kurdish opposition parties, and they have been complaining about the PYD using heavy-handed tactics to suppress them.
The Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and rebel opposition forces are reportedly fighting each other in the small Syrian town of Marea, north of Aleppo.
Turkey has refused entreaties from the U.S., France, and Russia to halt its shelling of Kurdish positions in Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended the artillery strikes as self-defense against a terrorist threat, continuing his effort to link the Syrian Kurdish militia to Kurdish separatists in Turkey and blame them for the Ankara bombing.
Contents: Latest Syria peace plan officially fails; Shifting alliances across the Mideast
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intensified his denunciation of the Syrian Kurdish militia as “terrorists” responsible for this week’s Ankara bombing, and called on the U.S. to renounce support for the Kurds. The U.S. government refused these demands and said it would continue supporting Kurdish forces against the Islamic State in Syria.
The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a separatist terrorist group that primarily operates in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey, said it carried out the successful car bomb attack on the Turkish capital, Ankara, that killed 28 people Wednesday.
Contents: Six Turkish soldiers killed in explosion a day after Ankara attack; New terrorist attacks cause further splits in US-Turkey relationship; Russia’s attacks on civilian hospitals in Aleppo follow the ‘Grozny model’
Turkey launched airstrikes against Kurds in northern Iraq overnight, as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claimed the terrorist who carried out Wednesday’s deadly bomb attack in Ankara was linked to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, a vital U.S. ally in the war against the Islamic State.
The volatile situation in Syria took a dangerous turn over the weekend, as Turkey began shelling Kurdish YPG militia forces in Syria, the same militia America has been relying upon as frontline ground forces against the Islamic State. Turkey is also a U.S. ally and a member of NATO.
Contents: Turkey doubles down on shelling Kurds in Syria; Qatar says it will join Saudi Arabia, UAE sending troops to Syria; John Kerry suggests that al-Assad and the Russians are delusional
Contents: Turkey’s military strikes Kurdish positions in Syria, north of Aleppo; Saudi Arabia and Turkey plan joint ground troop incursion into Syria; The death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan unleashed a furious rant against the United States on Wednesday, holding America responsible for the “sea of blood” spilled in Syria, and supporting other terrorist organizations while it focused too intently on defeating the Islamic State.
Turkey summoned the American ambassador a day after the U.S. Department of State indicated that Washington does not recognize the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) that controls large swathes of northern Syria as terrorists.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed Russia sent weapons to the Iraqi Kurds to fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).
An AFP-Reuters report on Tuesday highlighted the difficulty of getting Syria’s many warring factions together for U.N.-brokered peace talks, as many of the parties involved consider the presence of other parties to be non-starters. Turkey, for example, has announced that it strongly opposes participation by Kurdish groups.
Vice President Joe Biden met with Turkish leaders in Istanbul over the weekend, asking for more Turkish help against the Islamic State and offering to assist with border security, while supporting Turkey’s campaign against the Kurdish separatists of the PKK. The Vice President’s remarks illustrated the delicate balance act between Turkey, Syria, Iraq, ISIS, and the Kurds.
Multiple reports have indicated that the Kurdish Democratic Union Party’s militia (YPG) in northern Syria attacked the Assyrian Christians in the region, leaving several people dead.
A veteran of the Dutch Army has been arrested on suspicion of murder, as it is thought that he killed Islamic State (IS) terrorists when fighting alongside Kurdish YPG forces in Syria. Jitse Akse, 47, was arrested on Wednesday. He
American and other Western volunteers fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria recently told the Kurdish outlet Rudaw they were gearing up for a new offensive against the jihadists in the new year. One American volunteer recalled how thousands demanded photos with him on a routine visit to a mall in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
To the extent the fight abroad surfaced as a topic, however, a common refrain reared its head, leaving many questions unanswered: “we should arm the Kurds.”
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has claimed responsibility for a triple truck-bomb attack on a town in northeastern Syria that left 50 people dead and injured 80 others, according to the Kurdish YPG militia that controls the area.
The BBC has found a man believed to be the first Chinese national to volunteer to fight alongside the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) against the Islamic State.
Fighting has erupted between allegedly allied anti-Islamic State groups in Aleppo, Syria, killing over 20 people in the past two days.
At least 50 U.S. soldiers arrived in Kobane, Syria, on Thursday to train Kurdish People’s Protection Unit soldiers against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).
Students at a London university have banned an alumnus from speaking about his experiences fighting ISIS in Syria because they did not want to encourage others to go and fight against them. They’ve claimed “one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist”
Yazidi militias organized to fight the Islamic State in Sinjar, northern Iraq are protesting that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Marxist terrorist group operating out of Syria and Turkey, have prevented them from launching a mission to recapture Sinjar City after the terrorists stormed the region in 2014.
The White House had stern words for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) this week following the dramatic crackdown on a media conglomerate that temporarily shut down two newspapers and two television stations just days before the November 1 election.
