An extraordinary event has been taking
place recently. In the past five days more than 30,000
refugees have fled Syria for Iraqi Kurdistan.
By most estimates, there are more than
17,000 foreign fighters taking part in the Syrian civil war. They
have come here from all over the Middle East. Many are from Libya,
Iraq, Lebanon and Iran. Of the foreign fighters who are opposed to
the Assad regime, most of them are Islamic jihadists and of these,
many are affiliated with al-Qaida.
Jabhat al-Nusra is also known as the al-Nusra Front and is the largest jihadist group in Syria. It is
linked to al-Qaida and is widely rumored to be supported by Turkey.
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is also known as al-Qaida in
Iraq has its leadership from Iraq. It is well organized, well
trained and has been successful recently with its campaigns in Iraq
and Syria. It has a long term goal of establishing an Islamic
caliphate centered in Syria.
In the past month, these jihadist groups, particularly the al-Nusra front, have been
committing atrocities in the Kurdish area of Syria. The Kurds have
become autonomous since the beginning of the Syrian civil war. There
seems to be an agreement between Assad and the Kurds. He gave them
their autonomy and in return they stay out of the fighting. But
their neutrality seems to be coming to an end. The al-Qaida linked
groups have begun a program of genocide against the Kurds. The
leadership in Kurdish Iraq has offered refuge to the Syrian Kurds.
This is why more than 30,000 have left Syria in five days with a rate
as high as 10,000 refugees per day. The Kurds have significant
resources of men, weapons and money so this may be setting up a
Kurdish – Arab war in Syria, as if the situation in Syria isn't
complicated enough. And there are many other complications. If Jabhat al-Nusra is being aided by Turkey, this would greatly complicate the delicate relationship between Turkey and its own Kurdish community. The Kurds in Iraq are lately becoming much more autonomous contrary to the wishes of the Iraqi government. However, the Iraqi government may allow the Kurds to go their own way for help with al-Quaida in Iraq.
The news article below explains the situation very well.
Syria’s Civil War Comes to the Kurds
Events on the ground in northern Syria
and Iraqi Kurdistan suggest that the Syrian conflict is about to
become a lot more complex, as it seems a new combatant might be
entering the fray: the Kurds.
Local authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan
received a shock earlier this week when the normal flow of refugees
from northern Syria suddenly spiked to 10,000 people crossing in a
single day. Words like “unprecedented” are now being used to
describe this surge of mostly Kurdish people escaping from Syria, and
NGO and local government workers in Iraqi Kurdistan are struggling to
cope with the numbers. Yet even more remarkable than the scale of
this refugee influx is the fact that no one seems to know for sure
what is behind it.
Recent events in northeastern Syria do
allow for an educated guess though. There have been several reports
of Islamist attacks on Kurdish towns and militias in the area. During
one such attack this week, 17 people were killed in the strategic
border town of Ras al-Ain. Other reports, such as a Russia Today
article from August 9, detail a more comprehensive terror campaign by
Islamists in the Kurdish-majority areas of northeastern Syria, one
where targeted rapes, kidnappings, and murders are becoming
commonplace. The article provides an individual’s account of an
attack on a Kurdish town by brigades from the Free Syria Army, the
al-Nusra Front, and perhaps most interestingly – the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant.
An increase in attacks on local Kurdish
populations explains the refugee inflows in Iraqi Kurdistan, but the
motivation behind these Islamist attacks remains an open question.
One theory is that the Islamists are
resentful of Syrian Kurds because they have largely remained on the
sidelines of the fight against the al-Assad government. Adding to the
credibility of this interpretation is the fact that the Syrian Kurds
currently represent somewhat of an easy target, one that could
potentially unite the disparate elements of the insurgency in the
wake of a series of military defeats by the Syrian government.
Other theories involve the hand of
outside powers such as Turkey. Ankara is believed to be actively
supporting the al-Nusra Front, and the goal of preventing Kurdish
independence on its borders has been a longstanding fixture of
Turkish foreign policy. Thus, some argue that the Turkish government
is encouraging the al-Nusra Front to destabilize the Kurdish-majority
areas of northeastern Syria in exchange for its continued logistical
and military support.
However much the Erdogan government
would like to forestall Kurdish independence, it’s hard to imagine
the alternative of an anarchic vacuum of Islamist militias on its
border would be a palatable price to pay. Yet this is exactly what
Saleh Muslim, leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and
prominent figure within the Syrian Kurdish community, is alleging to
be taking place.
