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Eugene

(61,595 posts)
Mon Jul 14, 2014, 03:48 PM Jul 2014

Kurds go to Syria from Turkey to fight Islamists

Source: Reuters

Kurds go to Syria from Turkey to fight Islamists

BY TOM PERRY AND SEYHMUS CAKAN
BEIRUT Lebanon/DIYARBAKIR Turkey Mon Jul 14, 2014 2:34pm EDT

(Reuters) - A new offensive by al Qaeda offshoot the Islamic State on Kurdish-held areas of northern Syria has triggered a regional call for arms from the Kurds, and Turkish Kurds are coming to their aid.

The war in Syria has already drawn in an array of regional players and the regional Kurdish involvement complicates an increasingly fragmented scene across Syria and Iraq, where the Islamic state took control of large areas last month.

The hardline Sunni militants launched a new push towards the Syrian city of Ain al-Arab about two weeks ago using weaponry seized from Iraq including new missiles and U.S.-made armored Humvee vehicles, Syrian Kurdish officials say.

The predominantly Kurdish city is known as Kobani to the Kurds who have controlled it since 2012, part of an expansion of their influence following the collapse of central government control that has allowed for closer ties with Kurds across the border.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/14/us-syria-crisis-kurds-idUSKBN0FJ2A820140714
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