The Kurdish forces, especially in Northern Syria, might be one of the best things in the world at the moment. As you say it's incredibly difficult to find trustworthy sources coming out of a war zone, and you can more-or-less find someone saying anything, but it seems clear that in an environment where sectarian hatred and massacre has become a fact of every-day life, there's an effective armed force fighting for democracy and secularism. Genuinely heroic stuff, imo, in a world where that sort of thing is in very short supply.
Worth pointing out that the US has provided support to the 'FSA', which stand for the Free Syrian Army. As far as I can tell that's essentially a fiction these days. In the early days of the Syrian war it was the name for forces from the Syrian Army who opposed the Assad-led regime, but that it hasn't been a stable, unitary force for a long time now - it's more a nice sounding label you can give to anti-regime sunni militia. I think the US prefers 'Rebels' these days, but has used it, as has Turkey, in all probability for units that now form part of Euphrates Shield.
The US also publicly backs the current Turkish offensive as it's ostensibly an anti-ISIS operation, even though most everyone agrees the strategic goal is preventing the Kurds from joining up their territory. They have provided some actual support to the operation as well.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.7c1a8dd78138
Quote:
U.S. aircraft have begun regular aerial intelligence surveillance in support of Turkey’s offensive against the Islamic State in northwestern Syria
Although usually the statements of support include statements of support for the Kurds as well.
I agree that the US faces a choice in its support of the Kurdish groups going forwards, and that the signs don't look great. If Turkey and Russia are the real power behind the current 'ceasefire', and if the US is content to follow that initiative as its route back into real relevancy in Syria, then the Kurds are the obvious choice for who'll lose out.
There's also bizarre signs that parts of the American left want to do a number on the Kurds, I guess as part of general support for regime change in Syria and therefore support of the 'Rebels'. The worst so far was this article in The Nation a few weeks ago which tries to imply they're war criminals:
https://www.thenation.com/article/ha...ed-war-crimes/
Its main claim is that the SDF has
Quote:
evicted Arabs from their homes at gunpoint starting in 2013 and subsequently has blown up, torched, or bulldozed their homes and villages.
Its evidence is that
Quote:
the YPG abandoned the outskirts of Kobani to ISIS without a fight, ordering residents to leave the villages they were eager to defend.
This was at a time when ISIS was at its height and the Kurdish forces were some of the only ground forces even trying to effectively counter them. Obviously retreating to a defensible position is just bog-standard, sensible tactics, utterly unremarkable to anyone who thinks about it - though no doubt horrendous to be part of when it's your house. As a result Kobani was just about held and eventually inflicted one of the first serious defeats on ISIS.
Last edited by pyatnitski; 02-25-2017 at 07:59 AM.