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The Erdogan government has also this morning agreed to allow the peshmerga to cross their territory from Iraq to relieve the siege. This, a day after Erdogan again reiterated he was opposed to aiding the YPG/J. Clearly, the Turks have succumbed to pressure from the US and Barzani’s Kurdish Regional Government. The assistance, while obviously very welcome, is a two-edged sword. The Turks and Americans are hoping their intervention will shore up Barzani at home and displace the leftist PKK in Turkey and PYD in Syria. As al-Jazeera reported recently, Barzani’s base in Iraq had begun deserting him because of his hesitant support of the YPG/J fighters in Kobani, and this has had to be a factor in the American decision to prevent the fall of Kobane, alongside the need to shatter ISIS’ aura of military invincibility which was drawing recruits to it from across the region and elsewhere. On Oct 20, 2014, at 6:59 AM, Greg McDonald via Marxism <marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/20/us-drops-weapons-to-kurds-in-syria > > Kobani: US drops weapons to Kurds in Syria > > Kobani air drops likely to anger Turkish government, which opposes sending > arms to Kurdish rebels in Syria > > The US military says it has airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical > supplies to Kurdish forces defending the Syrian city of Kobani against > Islamic State militants. > > The air drops on Sunday were the first of their kind and followed weeks of > US and coalition air strikes in and near Kobani, near the Turkish border. > The US earlier said it had launched 11 air strikes overnight in the Kobani > area. > > Meanwhile Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that > Turkey was facilitating the passage of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters to > Kobani. Cavusoglu did not provide details on the transfer of the fighters. > > In a statement on Sunday night, US Central Command said US C-130 cargo > planes made multiple drops of arms and supplies provided by Kurdish > authorities in Iraq. It said they were intended to enable continued > resistance to Islamic State efforts to take full control of Kobani. > > The air drops are almost certain to anger the Turkish government, which has > said it would oppose any US arms transfers to the Kurdish rebels in Syria. > Turkey views the main Kurdish group in Syria as an extension of the Turkish > Kurd group known as the PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency in Turkey > and is designated a terror group by the US and by Nato. > > Senior US administration officials said three C-130 planes dropped 27 > bundles of small arms, ammunition and medical supplies. The officials spoke > on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House. > > One official said that while the results of the mission were still being > assessed, it appeared that “the vast majority” of the supplies reached the > intended Kurdish fighters. > > The official also said the C-130s encountered no resistance from the ground > in Syria during their flights in and out of Syrian airspace. > > In a written statement, Central Command said its forces had conducted more > than 135 air strikes against Islamic State forces in Kobani. > > Central Command said: “Combined with continued resistance to Isil on the > ground, indications are that these strikes have slowed Isil advances into > the city, killed hundreds of their fighters and destroyed or damaged scores > of pieces of Isil combat equipment and fighting positions.” > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/marvgand2%40gmail.com _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
