Post by cenydd on Aug 10, 2013 21:52:42 GMT
The president of Iraqi Kurdistan has vowed to defend the large Kurdish population in neighbouring Syria from Al-Qaeda-linked rebel fighters.
The comments from Massoud Barzani follow weeks of clashes in predominantly Kurdish parts of northeastern Syria between Kurdish forces and Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front, after Syrian Kurds expelled them from the town of Ras al-Ain on the border with Turkey.
The fighting in the oil-rich region has emerged as yet another layer in Syria's increasingly complex and bloody civil war. Al Nusra is already fighting the Syrian regime of president Bashar al-Assad.
In a statement posted on the Kurdistan Regional Government's website, Barzani called for a delegation to visit Kurdish areas in Syria to verify the reports that "Al-Qaeda terrorists" are killing Kurds.
If confirmed, then Iraqi Kurdistan "will make use of all its capabilities to defend the Kurdish women, children and citizens in western Kurdistan," he said in the statement.
The comments from Massoud Barzani follow weeks of clashes in predominantly Kurdish parts of northeastern Syria between Kurdish forces and Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front, after Syrian Kurds expelled them from the town of Ras al-Ain on the border with Turkey.
The fighting in the oil-rich region has emerged as yet another layer in Syria's increasingly complex and bloody civil war. Al Nusra is already fighting the Syrian regime of president Bashar al-Assad.
In a statement posted on the Kurdistan Regional Government's website, Barzani called for a delegation to visit Kurdish areas in Syria to verify the reports that "Al-Qaeda terrorists" are killing Kurds.
If confirmed, then Iraqi Kurdistan "will make use of all its capabilities to defend the Kurdish women, children and citizens in western Kurdistan," he said in the statement.
www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/08/2013810192811431562.html
More people and groups getting involved would seem to be the last thing that the whole mess in Syria needs, but I guess they feel they have no choice, after what happened to the Kurds under Saddam.
