Kurdish YPG forces advance in Syria near Turkey’s border

Kurdish YPG fighters in Syrian Kurdistan. Photo: YPG/SM

ANKARA,— The powerful Kurdish People’s Defence Units YPG backed by Russia gain ground from Islamic State group (IS) in the Azaz region of Syria near the Turkish border, Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency AA reported.

Russian fighter jets have reportedly facilitated the advance of YPG fighters by carrying out three airstrikes against the road linking the district with the Bab al Salameh border checkpoint.

The Anadolu claim Russian aircraft have also attacked the frontline where YPG is fighting opposition forces in the north of Aleppo. On Thursday, Russia attacked the Deyr Cemal town in the north of Aleppo, aiming to stop the advancement of opposition forces.

Russian aircraft reportedly also attacked opposition forces on the ground in Malikiye and Ziyara towns, north of Aleppo, in support of the YPG in Syrian Kurdistan and Syrian Democratic Forces during the last two days. Last week, Russian jets also attacked opposition forces in Deir Cemal and Meryemeyn in attempts to open corridors for YPG and Syrian Democratic Forces, according to same source.

Syrian Kurdish fighters have liberated strategic town of Girê Spî (Tel Abyad) in Syrian Kurdistan from Islamic State, a major supply route to al-Raqqa province, a stronghold of the IS in Syria.

In October, Syria’s Kurds have incorporated a mixed town they captured from the IS group into Syrian Kurdistan, a leading party

Turkey’s National Security Council in October denounced a new self-proclaimed Kurdish enclave in Syrian Kurdistan – Gire Spi (Tel Abyad)- and called on the international community to condemn the YPG as terrorists. Turkey has called the region of Tel Abyad “a campaign to change the demographic make-up of northern Syria.”

However, for merging Kobani with Afrin Cantons of Syrian Kurdistan, YPG must first take control of IS-controlled Jerablus and opposition forces-controlled Azez regions. In order to achieve that goal, YPG has reportedly began its rapprochement with Russia.

Turkey has warned the United States and Russia it will not tolerate any Kurdish region to be held by the PKK, which is deemed a terrorist group by NATO.

Meanwhile 50 U.S. special operations forces have arrived to Kobani in Syrian Kurdistan to assist and train Kurdish forces to battle the Islamic state (IS) jihadists, Kurdish sources said. A source with YPG said the Americans would help plan offensives against two Syrian cities held by IS — Jarablus and the jihadists’ Syrian “capital”, Raqa. The special forces will have an advisory role, according to the officials.

The United State reconfirm its support to the Kurdish forces in Syrian Kurdistan, a State Department spokesman said earlier this month.

Russia President Vladimir Putin said in last September no one but Assad’s forces and Kurds are fighting Islamic State.

Speaking of the Syrian Kurds, U.S. policy advisor, and former United States diplomat Peter Galbraith notes that in his trip to that region in December 2014, he noticed that “they have gone from being rebels in charge of an area to having many more attributes of a government.”

The YPG militia has seized swathes of Syria from Islamic State with the help of U.S.-led strikes. The Syrian Kurds have declared an autonomous administration in November 2013, across the Kurdish parts of Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) along the Turkish border, rankling Ankara, which has fought a decades-long insurgency against Kurdish PKK separatists.

In October 2015, Russia said does not consider the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK and its affiliate in Syrian Kurdistan, the People’s Defence Units YPG, the military wing of PYD, as terrorist groups. Moscow’s ambassador to Ankara said, amid reports that alliances between western powers and Kurdish fighters in the region are growing.

The autonomous Kurdish administration in Syrian Kurdistan is deeply suspicious of the Turkish plan, believing its primary aim is to contain the YPG and stop other Kurdish area being joined to the expanding zone of Kurdish controlled territory further east.

(With files from aa.com.tr | rudaw.net | AFP | Reuters)