| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Kobane at stake after Peshmerga withdrawal |
| 2015-05-07 |
| Kobane, Syria – Although the joint forces (YPG, FSA, and Peshmerga) were able to expel the Islamic State group (IS/ISIS) from the war-torn city of Kobane in northern Syria, the IS danger to Kobane hasn’t been entirely eliminated. The group still holds Raqqa and Jarablus, from which it sends military reinforcements to the countryside of Kobane, hoping to regain the strategic city on the Turkish border. According to observers, the departure of the Peshmerga forces, sent by the Iraqi Kurdistan government, may increase the potential danger by radicals to the area. For months the Kurdish Peshmerga forces have played a remarkable role in backing their Syrian peers with heavy artillery during anti-IS operations. Kurdish activists believe that Turkey has put pressure on Iraqi Kurdistan to pull its forces from Kobane after IS withdrew from the city. Turkey also urged allied rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to participate in anti-IS operations in the Kurdish areas of northern Syria, in an attempt to guarantee dependence of the Syrian Kurdish forces on other factions and to change the prevalent Western opinion that Turkey provides support to IS and other radical groups. |
| Posted by:badanov |