The country of Syria is currently host to a number of conflicts and problems. As described in the last blog post, we have a major conflict taking place between the Assad Regime, Russia, and Syria’s own people. We also still have the Islamic State holding significant portions of territory. This includes the capital of their caliphate, Raqqa, which their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared in 2014. Along with those 4 listed groups, we also have all competing for power. In this post we will look into some of the overarching issues involving the US backed Kurds and their relationship with some of these other groups. I think it is vital to start understanding the most complicated and complex region in the entire world, especially since the United States is heavily involved there.

It is first important to understand a little bit of background surrounding the people and groups we will be discussing. So who are the Kurds? The Kurds are a large ethnic group, the majority of which are Sunni Muslims, that inhabit the mountainous regions of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran in the Middle East. They consider this area Kurdistan, and they have many autonomous regions where they govern themselves throughout these four countries. It is estimated that 25 to 35 million Kurds live in this region. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in the world that do not have their own nation. While the Middle East region was being divided up after World War I, the Kurds were promised their own homeland. That plan was quickly scrapped and the country of Turkey was created with no provision for a Kurdish state. Now for 100 years the Kurds have been trying to reclaim land and create their own country.

It should be reiterated that ISIS (ISIL, Daesh) still controls significant portions of territory in northern Syria. This area of northern Syria either borders Kurdish controlled areas, or ISIS has taken over areas from the Kurdish people. You can see this displayed in the map below. ISIS has also killed thousands of Kurds, and displaced many thousands more from this area. Therefore you can see that the Kurdish people have a vested reason to fight against ISIS.

Due to the Kurds strong hatred of ISIS, their location virtually within the hotbed of ISIS’s strongholds’, and their decades of military expertise and experience, the US has decided to back them as the central fighting force against the Islamic State. The US is currently financially and militarily backing a group called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against ISIS. The SDF group is an umbrella group consisting mostly of Kurds and Syrian Sunni Arab Muslim fighting groups. The Kurds are part of a group called the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG)., which falls under the SDF umbrella. Because the YPG are experienced fighters, the leadership of the SDF consists mainly of Kurds from the YPG.

If you have been able to follow that alphabet soup of terms and groups, now is where things get interesting. As described earlier, the original space for the Kurdish homeland is now mainly in Turkey, and the southern part of Turkey consists of mostly of Kurds. For decades Kurdish groups have been carrying out terrorist attacks in Turkey mainly against Turkish government and security forces. This is in an effort to resist Turkish rule and reclaim land that they feel should be Kurdistan. The main group carrying out these attacks is one known as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Both Turkey and the United States consider the PKK to be a terrorist group.

Now remember the YPG is the main fighting force of the US backed SDF that is fighting ISIS in Syria. Turkey consider the Kurdish YPG group to be nothing more than the Syrian version of the PKK which both they and the US consider to be a terrorist organization. Honestly, the lines get pretty blurred between the PKK and YPG, as many of the YPG’s top military leaders were trained and received experience as part of the PKK. Turkey and the US are both members of NATO, and they frown upon the US backing an organization, located and fighting right on their southern border, that they consider to be a terrorist organization.

Turkey feels that allowing the YPG to be strengthened will lead to Kurdish expansion as they reclaim areas from ISIS, such as ISIS’s capital of Raqqa which the SDF is battling to retake as we speak. The worry is that the Kurds will not give back these areas once they expel ISIS, and that the autonomous Kurdish regions along their border will grow and expand. This could potentially lead to a large area where the PKK can recruit terrorists or launch terrorist attacks against Turkey.

Turkey has taken this conflict as far as a couple of weeks ago, on April 25th, they bombed PKK/YPG locations in northern Syria. They also bombed Kurdish areas in Iraq against Peshmerga troops (the Peshmerga is the Kurdish fighting force in Iraq. I know, another name adding to the complexity). The US is backing the Peshmerga in Iraq to help liberate Mosul and other areas from ISIS’s clutch. Turkey again attacked these areas on the 26th. They state that they killed over 70 PKK militants, and the YPG state over 20 of their fighters were killed. Turkey did not coordinate the bombing with the US as they are required to do, and gave the US less than one hour notice that the attack would take place.

The notice of the bombing is important because most do not realize that the US has special forces located within these areas assisting the YPG/SDF. It is estimated there are 500 SPECOPS troops in Syria assisting them, and believed that 250 more from Iraq were moved into the area along the Turkish border. Special operations troops are used so the US doesn’t have to state we have “boots on the ground” in Syria. A US military official even visited the bombed YPG sites to survey the aftermath. So as you can see, some tension is building between the US, Turkey, and the Kurds in Syria.

This tension is making the fight against ISIS even more difficult. The US would like to arm the Kurdish YPG in Syria. As stated previously, they are the most experienced and most capable fighting force. Although, Turkey will not allow that to take place. Currently we are only arming the Arab forces within the SDF umbrella group. The US is also arming the Kurdish Peshmerga in Iraq with small arms. The US State Department also just recently approved a $295.6 million arms deal for those Peshmerga forces giving them machine guns and several Humvees. Somehow the Kurdish YPG forces are getting US weapons and gear anyways, as the picture below displays. The Iraqi Kurds are either giving them the weapons, they are being funneled to other countries and then to the YPG, the other Arab forces are giving them the weapons, or they are getting the weapons and gear from the CIA who is not prohibited like the Pentagon.

Coordinating the various groups within Syria, especially northern Syria, is a vast complex dynamic with many moving and conflicting pieces. Many originations labeled by various names, and various countries have a presence in this hotbed. In future articles we will dive into some of the specific relationships in the region that make this Kurdish issue so complex, and as a result what needs to take place moving forward. This situation should be monitored because almost 900 US troops are now in the area, and these groups are crucial to defeating ISIS and expelling them from the region.

Sources:
BBC News, “Who are the Kurds?”, BBCNews.com, 3-14-16
Borger, Julian and Hawramy, Fazel, “U.S. Providing light arms to Kurdish-led coalition in Syria, officials confirm”, theguardian.com, 9-29-16
Chalor, Martin, “Ever closer ties between U.S. And Kurds stoke Turkish border tensions”, theguardian.com, 5-1-17
Crisis Group, “The PKK’s fateful choice in northern Syria”, crisisgroup.org, 5-4-17
Gordon, Michael R., “Turkish strikes target Kurdish allies of U.S. In Iraq and Syria”, NY Times, 4-25-17
Hurriget Daily News, “Turkey strikes PKK in Syria, Iraq for second day, responds to U.S. Criticisms”, hurrigetdailynews.com, 4-26-17
O’Connor, Tim, “U.S. Military set to move $300 million deal to arm Kurds fighting ISIS in Iraq”, Newsweek
Soufan Group, “The U.S. Role as combat buffer in Syria”, soufangroup.com, 5-3-17
The Baghdad Post, “U.S. Approves $295.6 million arms deal for Peshmerga: Pentagon”, thebaghdadpost.com, 4-20-17
TheCrisisGroup, “Fighting ISIS: The Road to and beyond Raqqa”, TheCrisisGroup.com, 4-27-17
Photo credits: Institute For The Study of War and Afarin Mamosta – Military development in Kurdistan