Kurds seize town on Syria-Turkey border, Ankara concerned

[Jesus Malverde]

Source: Reuters

A Syrian Kurdish party with links to Kurdish militants in Turkey has seized control of a Syrian border town after days of clashes with Islamist fighters, the Turkish military said.

The capture of Ras al-Ain on Syria's northeastern border with Turkey by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) will heighten Ankara's fears that the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria could embolden homegrown militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is fighting for autonomy in Turkey.

Turkey's foreign minister voiced concern at the spillover of violence from the war in its southern neighbor and called again on the United Nations Security Council, which has yet to come to a consensus over Syria, to act.

In a statement late on Wednesday, the military said Ras al-Ain had fallen under the control of the PYD, which it described as a "separatist terrorist organization". Fighting in the town had now stopped.

Turkish troops had shot at PYD fighters in Syria in accordance with its rules of engagement after two rocket propelled grenades fired from Syria struck a border post on the Turkish side of the frontier.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/18/us-syria-crisis-turkey-idUSBRE96H0EQ20130718

[Jesus Malverde]

1. Kurdish-Islamist fighting spreads in Syria

The capture of Ras al-Ain by the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a Syrian Kurdish party with links to Kurdish militants in Turkey, rang alarm bells in Ankara.

The Observatory, a pro-opposition monitoring group, said fighting had now spread deeper into the largely Kurdish province of Hassakeh and battles were raging around the Rumeilan oil field, about 200 km (125 miles) east of Ras al-Ain.

The field had mostly been shut down, opposition activists said, but a few of its pipelines may still be supplying refineries in the government-held cities of Homs and Baniyas.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/kurdish-islamist-fighting-spreads-in-syria-1.1467711

[bemildred]

2. I've been wondering about that.

Whether those two groups would wind up fighting too.

Thanks for posting.