Vol. 79/No. 24      July 13, 2015

Reuters/Rodi Said

Kurdish People’s Protection Units parade near Tel Abyad June 15 after taking town from reactionary Islamic State, expanding Kurdish-controlled territory in Syria along Turkish border.

These advances together with the victory in driving IS forces from Kobani earlier this year have inspired Kurds throughout the region — some 30 million people living in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. They’re fighting against national oppression and for a homeland, denied to them by the imperialist division of the region put in place following World War I by London and Paris with Washington’s backing. The Kurdish struggle is also intertwined with the fight against landlord and capitalist exploitation and to oust the dictatorial rule of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.

The YPG in alliance with Arab, Christian and other groups began their main advance on Tel Abyad June 11, driving Islamic State combatants out of the town four days later. The first units to enter Tel Abyad were the women battalions of the YPG, known as the YPJ. Arab tribe leaders in a visit to the local YPG headquarters thanked the Kurdish fighters for liberating the town, reported Firatnews. Syrian Kurds now control a contiguous 245 miles of territory along the Syrian-Turkish border stretching east from Kobani.

U.S.-led forces conducted 23 airstrikes near Raqqa during the first half of June. But Washington, fearing the rising Kurdish fight for national rights and sovereignty, has not provided YPG with the heavy weaponry they have requested and need to more effectively counter Islamic State.

On June 22, Kurdish forces took control of the Liwa-93 military base, which Islamic State had captured from government forces last year. The following day YPG-led forces took full control of the nearby town of Ain Issa, on a highway leading directly toward Raqqa.

“Raqqa is a Syrian city, like Tel Abyad and Kobani, and all Syrians want it freed of Daesh terror,” YPG spokesman Redur Xelil told Reuters June 23. “But at the current time it is not included in our agenda.” Daesh is an Arabic name for Islamic State. Nevertheless, he noted, Islamic State has “begun digging trenches in the vicinity of Raqqa to improve their defenses.”

Kurdish women fighters are aiding women who fled Islamic State areas as well as those still trapped under their control. The group seeks “to support all women affected by the violence of IS terrorists,” YPJ General Commander Newroz Ahmed told ARA News, “whether Kurds or Arabs, and provide them with humanitarian support.”

In Hasakah province in northeastern Syria, members of the Christian Syriac Women’s Union have begun military training with the YPJ. “The YPJ represents steadfastness and the real will of women to overcome decades of suppression in the region,” Shamiran Shimon, head of the women’s union, told ARA News. “We’ll be honored to cooperate with them.”

As Kurdish forces made gains in Tel Abyad, fighting erupted between the YPG and government troops stationed in the Kurdish-populated city of Qamishli in Hasakah province. According to a statement issued June 16 by the Kurdish Cezire canton, “The Baathist regime provocatively arrested Kurdish and Arab youths under the pretext [that they had to do] ‘military service [in] the regime’s army.’”

Kurdish fighters forced pro-government forces to withdraw from most Kurdish-populated regions in 2012, with the exception of Qamishli and the provincial capital Hasakah. Kurdish forces and government troops control different parts of these cities. On June 25 Islamic State forces launched new attacks on Assad forces in Hasakah, forcing some 60,000 people to flee their homes, according to the U.N.

That same day several dozen Islamic State fighters, disguised as members of the YPG and a faction of the Free Syrian Army allied with them, entered Kobani, setting off at least three suicide car bombs. At least 145 civilians have been killed in the fighting, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.  
 
 
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