Kurds head to Syria from Turkey to fight militants

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

By DIAA HADID

BEIRUT (AP) — Hundreds of Kurdish fighters have crossed from Turkey into neighboring Syria to defend a Kurdish area under attack by Islamic State militants, activists said Saturday. Fighting there led another prominent Kurdish official to appeal for international assistance in their battle against the extremists.

The movement of hundreds of Kurdish fighters into Syria reflected the ferocity of the fighting in the northern Kobani area, which borders Turkey. Militants of the extremist Islamic State group have been barreling through the area over the past three days, seizing villages and forcing tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds to flee.

"Kobani is facing the fiercest and most barbaric attack in its history," said official Mohammed Saleh Muslim, head of Syria's powerful Kurdish Democratic Union. The groups' members dominate the Syrian Kurdish group known as the YPK, which is fighting the Islamic State militants.

"Kobani calls on all those who defend humane and democratic values ... to stand by Kobani and support it immediately. The coming hours are decisive," he said in a message sent to reporters.

FULL story at link.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140920/ml-syria-7670f99f2e.html

[Scootaloo]

1. The US won't back these guys because of ties to the PKK

We'll back the wacky religious fundy types though, because doing so doesn't make Turkey get sniffy at us.

Our foreign policy is written by the Swedish Chef - it's borked, borked, borked.

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. The ironies abound in this mess.

Our objective allies against ISIS are mostly people we love to hate: Assad's Syria, Iran, Iraqi Shiite militias, the PKK and YPK. And the Iraqi Kurdish pershmerga (but they're "good" Kurds).

Our "coalition of the willing" seems to consist of a lot of countries that stirred up this shit in the first place: Saudi Arabia, the Gulf emirates, Turkey.

Except Turkey hasn't been willing to be an actual ally. It used the excuse of the hostage diplomats, but its policy for the past three years has been to blatantly interfere in the internal affairs of its neighbor, Syria, backing the now failed revolution against Assad, providing easy transit to jihadi fighters, providing cross-border safe havens for them, buying stolen Syrian oil from them.

And then there's our "let's arm the moderate Syrian rebels" policy. Good lord. We're going to arm people who hate Assad to fight ISIS, which hates Assad, while at the same time we're going to hope the Syrian army will fight ISIS. This shit gives me a headache.

[ballyhoo]

4. This is the stupidest idea in the history of the United States.

[Purveyor]

3. Then there is this: About 60,000 Syrian Kurds Flee To Turkey As Islamic State Advances

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025563297