IRAQI KURDS PUSH BACK AGAINST SYRIA JIDAHISTS AT THE BORDER

 

One of the interesting developments of the Syria war, is the taking up of arms against jihadist rebels at the Syria-Iraq border by Kurdish nationals. 

That the Kurds would take up arms to contrast the jihadists no one doubted. Their strife in Turkey alone could have predicted the outcome.  But now, it seems they are beginning to play a central role in the Syrian civil war.  And in that sense, they could be instrumental in the outcome of the war.

The route the Kurds have taken back this week, is essential for jihadists who use the porous border with Iraq as a vital supply route. 

Most of the jihadists that the Kurds routed out were from Al Nusra front and the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant.  Both groups are vying for control of the region to institute a sharia state in Syria, which would be a Sunni dominated state under strict theocratic rule. 

Although the islamist rebels are trying to overturn the Assad regime, their intent is not to give the Syrian people the democratic government they sought at the civil war's onset, but rather to annex the Syrian northeastern territory as a bridge between Iraq and Iran with the Middle East and to challenge the status quo in the MIddle East in the future. 

In that sense, the Kurds are helping the Free Syria factions, but at the same time, without the presence of the jihadists in the northeast, the Assad government can concentrate on defeating the true Syrian rebels in other parts of the country. 

In fact, the Kurds are encroaching in both Assad and the jihadists' plans, since the Kurds are trying to create an autonomous region in the area that includes parts of Iraq, Turkey and now Syria. 

al Nusra Front and other jihadist, foreign factions in Syria that are struggling to maintain control, are also waging a bloody fight amongst each other for control of what they deem vital territory. The infighting among the islamist faction is becoming more dominant than the success of the groups in defeating the Assad army.  

But the ouster of some of the foreign rebel groups may actually make the conflict less bloody.  In the violent skirmishes perish many civilians, at times just as many as when the rebels are fighting the Syrian army. In addition, the foreign rebels have been known to be more violent against Shi'a Syrians, and have employed methods common to al Qaeda, with which they are known to associate, such as car bombings and other methods that wreak high collateral civilian casualties. 

In fact, the infighting has caused as many as 2.5 million civilians to be in essence trapped behind enemy lines.  Humanitarian groups have long expressed the need for opening routes of escape for these people. 

 

The situation in Syria remains dire under all aspects. 

Partial Source : France 24/ 10.26.13