Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga Arrive in Turkey for Syria Deployment, Fighting ISIS in Kobani
A group of 150 Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga troops reached Turkey on Wednesday, en route to back Syrian Kurds fighting ISIS in the Syrian city of Kobani, AP reports.
“An elite guard of the peshmerga will operate artillery and other heavy weaponry to help protect Syrian Kurds,” writes the Wall Street Journal.
Hundreds of people from Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan have gathered on both sides of the border crossing to cheer on the peshmerga fighters.
The unprecedented move came after Ankara agreed to allow the peshmerga to cross into Turkey via Syria.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the BBC that sending the peshmerga was “the only way to help Kobani, since other countries don’t want to use ground troops.”
He stressed that Turkey would not be sending its own ground forces to Kobani but would “accelerate” the training and equipping of Syrian rebels to fight in Kobani.
Davutoglu emphasized that Turkey would not take part in the U.S.-led coalition’s strategy if it did not include military action against Syrian government forces or consider a no-fly zone.
Turkey’s stance continues to puts it at odds with its neighbor, Iran. On Tuesday Iran accused Turkey of prolonging the conflict in Syria by insisting on the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad and supporting “terrorist groups” in Syria, the official IRNA news agency reports.
Tehran and Ankara back opposing sides in the Syria conflict.
Jabhat al-Nusra Expands Reach into Idlib, Seizes Territory from Moderate Syrian Group
Jabhat al-Nusra fighters seized territory from a moderate Syrian rebel group, expanding their reach into one of the only remaining areas of northern Syria not held by ISIS, Reuters reports
The fighters took several villages in Idlib province from the Syria Revolutionaries’ Front led by Jamal Maarouf, an important figure in the moderate opposition.
An official from the Syria Revolutionaries’ Front said Jabhat al-Nusra was reinforced by ISIS in the assault. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Jund al-Aqsa, another hard-line group, also provided back-up.
The Syria Revolutionaries’ Front is one of the largest groups forming the Western-backed, moderate opposition to the regime, which the U.S. plans to train and equip to defeat ISIS.
On Tuesday, Jabhat al-Nusra fighters stormed a government building and claimed to have cut the supply route to the northwestern Idlib province. The group had previously seized multiple villages and towns in the province that has been under government control since 2012.
“If Jabhat al-Nusra holds its offensive in Idlib it could shift the power dynamic in the northern part of Syria,” the International Business Times reports.
Syria’s Neighbors Warn of Approaching ‘Host Country Fatigue’
Reuters reports on an international conference in Berlin, where U.N. refugee chief Antonio Guterres called Syria the “the most dramatic humanitarian crisis the world has faced in a very long time.”
“Syria’s neighbors are approaching ‘host-country fatigue’ because of huge demand from refugees for housing, schools, jobs and healthcare and scant resources like water,” Jordan’s foreign minister told the conference.
Speaking about the ISIS advance in Syria and Iraq, Naci Koru, Turkey’s deputy foreign minister, told the conference “we are faced with the risk of further humanitarian disasters and continued large-scale movements of Syrians towards our borders.”
Turkey has taken in more than 1.6 million Syrian refugees, at a cost of $4 billion, “and received only $250 million in aid from the international community,” Koru said.
“In addition to placing huge strains on the country’s hospitals, schools and other institutions, the refugees also are taking jobs from Lebanese workers, creating resentment,” said Tammam Salam, the country’s prime minister,
Lebanon, whose population is only 4.5 million, has taken in about 1.1 million Syrian refugees.
“The host countries need and deserve much stronger financial support to their budgets to allow them to address the structural gaps,” Guterres said.
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