Syria-Kurds: Islamist groups in northern Syria are weakening after months of fighting and Kurdish militias are gaining ground, a top Syrian Kurdish leader said on Wednesday.
Saleh Muslim, head of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said in an interview that Tuesday's announcement of an interim Syrian Kurdish autonomous administration in northeastern Syria is only a provisional measure until the end of the Syrian fighting. Muslim said he would only join the Geneva talks if there was a separate Kurdish delegation.
Muslim said, “About 3,000 of those Salafists have been killed. At the beginning they were strong, but now they aren't so strong….We have found no allies and paid for our own bullets.”
Muslim admitted, however, the PYD had received aid, money and weapons from the Iraq-based Kurdistan Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan as well as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which fought for greater Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades.
Comment: Syrian Kurds number about two million people or 10% of Syria's population of 22.4 million, according to the CIA World Factbook. More than 25 million Kurds are dispersed among Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq.
The pro-Western and the jihadist groups reject the formation of an autonomous Syrian Kurdistan region. Nevertheless, one of the ripple effects of the Syrian fighting has been to galvanize the long-oppressed Syrian Kurds into taking action to defend their territory in northeastern Syria.
Muslim's admission that his group receives aid, money and weapons from other Iraqi and Turkish Kurds is significant because usually Kurdish leaders are more circumspect about linkages to other Kurdish regions, particularly the prosperous and highly autonomous Iraqi Kurds. None of the leaders of states with large Kurdish populations wants to see a Kurdish nationhood movement emerge.
For now, the Asad government owes the Kurds for preventing the jihadists from seizing northeastern Syria, as they have tried for much of the summer.
See Also:
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Berto Jongman Et Al: Syria Round-Up 7.4
Berto Jongman Et Al: Syria Round-Up 5.1
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Berto Jongman Et Al: Syria Round-Up 2.0
Berto Jongman: Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Special Report Fixing Intelligence on Syria?
Berto Jongman: Reuters Tells the Syria Story [Possible Disinformation]
Berto Jongman: Syria False Flags & Mystery Munitions, Blowback To UK
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Chuck Spinney: Bill Polk Primer on Syria
Chuck Spinney: Bill Polk Primer on Syria & Chemical Weapons
Chuck Spinney: Blindly Against Syria, Another War
Chuck Spinney: Break-Up of Iraq, History of Oil Invasions
Chuck Spinney: Iraq Army Losing North, Partition Being Discussed
Chuck Spinney: Israel Past Insanity & Into Suicide
Chuck Spinney: Israel Still Angling for Attacks on Syria and Iran
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Chuck Spinney: Kurdistan Emergent
Chuck Spinney: Patrick Seale on The Kurds Seizing the Day
Chuck Spinney: Syrian Use of Chemical Weapons? Bullshit. + Syria Regional Meta-RECAP
Chuck Spinney: Syria, Regional War, and Turkey — Let the Ethnic Cleansing Begin!
Chuck Spinney: The Real Scare in Syria is Not Chemical Weapons But Rather Regional War
Chuck Spinney: Thoughts on Obama’s March to Folly in Syria
Chuck Spinney: WIkiStrat on US History in Syria
David Swanson: 10 Problems with the Latest Excuse for War [Against Syria]
David Swanson: Lying About Syria, and the Lying Liars Who Lie About the Lying
David Swanson: “Strategy” in Syria – Humanitarian Murder
David Swanson: Ten Problems with War on Syria
Geoff Forbes at LandInfo: Syria at 1:50,000
Gordon Duff: Update on Advanced Weapons Into Syria
Gordon Duff: YouTube (2:57) US Contractors and the Syrian Rebel Chemical Weapons False Flag Attack
Graphic: Map Syria Iran + Syria-Iran-Rergional RECAP
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Jim Dean: Western Allies Prepare 3rd WMD Attack on Syria
John Maguire: James Corbett on the Syrian Cover Story
Lee Camp: Mind-Blowing Truth About War with Syria
Marcus Aurelius: Appraisal of Syrian Intervention Options and Costs + Syria Anti-War Meta-RECAP
Marcus Aurelius: Obama and Kerry on Syria — Who Is Stabbing Who in the Back?
Marcus Aurelius: POTUS on Syria (Cartoons)
Marcus Aurelius: US IC UNCLAS Syria CW Assessment
Mini-Me: Turkey Today, Saudi Arabia Tomorrow? Arabs Fight for Identity, Justice, & Legitimacy
NATO Watch: NATO and Russia to Cooperate on Syria?
Neal Rauhauser: Balochistan, Eygpt, Lebanon, Syria, & Yemen
Neal Rauhauser: Caucasus Emirate, Chechnya, 2014 Olympic Threat, and Syria
Neal Rauhauser: Greater Kurdistan and the Syrian Insurgency
Neal Rauhauser: Modern Turkey + Turkey RECAP
Neal Rauhauser: Syrian Conflict Spreads, Kurds Fighting Islamists
Neal Rauhauser: Syrian Refugees in All Directions, Destabilizing Region
Neal Rauhauser: Syria, Regional War, The Only Red Line That Matters + Syria Meta-RECAP
Neal Rauhauser: Syria’s Prospects, Water Loss in the Region
NIGHTWATCH (2): Russia Draws the Line at Syria
NIGHTWATCH 4 SEP 13: Syria Unwrapped — US Lacks Credibility Across the Board, Russia Making Sense
NIGHTWATCH: Iran Interecept on Mayhem in Iraq If US Attacks Syria
NIGHTWATCH: Iran, Syria, WMD — and Bolivia Expels AID for Covert Operations
NIGHTWATCH: Russia, Syria, Lebanon — and Adana, Turkey [US Air Base]
NIGHTWATCH: Russia-US-Syria – Link to Putin’s NYT Op-Ed
NIGHTWATCH: Syria as a Mess Made by Saudi Arabia
NIGHTWATCH: Syria Assad Interview, Other Comments
NIGHTWATCH: Syria at Risk — Own the Consequences
NIGHTWATCH: Syria Documents Rebel Chemical Capability
NIGHTWATCH: Syria Escalates — WWIII Kick-Off?
NIGHTWATCH: Syrian Chemical Attack? “No Fucking Way, Jose.”
NIGHTWATCH: Syrian Realities You Can Trust
NIGHTWATCH: Syria-Saudi Arabia – New “Fighting Force” Funded by Saudis, Trained by Pakistanis
NIGHTWATCH: Syria Unanswered Questions Long Comment
NIGHTWATCH: Syria Who Done It? US Missiles Soon, Never Mind the Forensic Evidence….
NIGHTWATCH: US Invades Iraq, Creates first Arab Shi’ite State
Owl: More on Origins of False Flag Syrian Gas Attack Conspiracy
Owl: Syrian False-Flag Gas Attacks Evidence Crucifies Saudi Arabia
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Steven Aftergood: CRS Specials on Syria
Syria Round-Up (4th Media, Berto Jongman, David Swanson, John Maguire)