Lurch still on a mission to arm the ‘moderates’ in Syria while ignoring the Kurds.
Iraqi peshmerga fighters prepared Saturday to battle Islamic State group militants in the Syrian border town of Kobani, just hours after they arrived in a town that’s become a focal point in the battle against the extremists.
The force brought in badly needed heavy weapons including artillery, heavy machine guns and anti-tank missiles, material that could tip the balance of power in favor of the embattled Kurds fighting there.
The deployment came as Syria’s al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front scored a major victory against a moderate rebel faction, capturing their headquarters as well as the mountainous strategic region of Jabal al-Zawiya in the northwestern province of Idlib. Jabal al-Zawiya was one of the first areas to fall out of President Bashar Assad’s control after the uprising against his government began in March 2011.
The push in Idlib against the moderate rebel faction could be a blow to the U.S. as it plans to work with moderate rebel factions in the future to fight jihadis and Assad’s forces.
“This is a blow to the Syrian moderate opposition in general,” said Asad Kanjo, an activist based in Idlib via Skype.[…]
Since mid-September, Islamic State group fighters have captured dozens of predominantly Kurdish villages near Kobani and entered the town they have been trying to capture for weeks. More than 200,000 people have fled to Turkey and more than 800 people have died, activists say.
Islamic State group positions in Kobani also have been targeted by more than 150 airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition over the past weeks.
The Observatory said the Islamic State group launched another offensive Friday night on YPG-held areas in Kobani but failed to advance. The group, which relies on reports from activists on the ground in Syria, said that more than 100 jihadi fighters have been killed over the past three days in the clashes, as well as the U.S.-led airstrikes.