It has been a long time coming, but Turkey was never going to tolerate an independent Kurdish military on its border. As a result of the United States helping the Syrian Kurdish Self-Protection Units (YPG) establish a 30,000 strong anti-Islamic State ‘border security force’ in northern Syria, Turkey has massed forces along the northern Syrian […]
Tag Archives: Kurdistan
Iraq’s military, backed by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, has captured the city of Kirkuk and nearby oil fields that had been held by the Kurdish regional government’s Peshmerga forces since 2014. The question is whether this has dealt a death blow to Kurdish hopes for a separate state, manifested in an overwhelming vote for independence in […]
Australia’s decision to temporarily halt military flights over Syria as part of the US ‘collective defence’ of Iraq illustrates how Russia and its proxy ally Syria are becoming twitchy over how the Syrian civil war is playing out. The Battle for Raqqa – Islamic State’s headquarters – is entering its final phase, with the Kurdish […]