Turkey is allowing Iraqi Kurds to cross into Kobane in order to take part in the fight against ISIS militants there.
This will allow Iraqi Kurds to come alongside Syrian Kurds in an effort to drive ISIS out of the city.
According to BBC News, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says details concerning the involvement of Iraqi Kurds are still being worked out. However, the announcement that they will be involved follows six US air strikes near Kobane on October 19 and 20, and six air strikes “in Iraq near Falluja and Baiji involving French and UK aircraft” on the same dates.
The US is also dropping weapons to Kurdish fighters who are already in Kobane.
The results to date an uneasy peace in Kobane–one in which “Kurdish fighters [have] apparently…driven [ISIS] militants from most of the town” but need reinforcements to keep them out and to keep the city safe.
Until now, Turkey has “barred access for Kurdish fighters to Syria.” In fact, Turkey has wrestled with a Kurdish insurgency that seeks “greater autonomy” within Turkish borders. But Rudaw reports that Turkey has now “responded positively to a request from Kurdish President Massoud Barzani to allow Peshmerga forces to pass through Turkish territory to relieve” Kurdish forces already in Kobane.
The cooperation between Kurdish forces and the US appears to be key in the policy shift. For example, while US worked out the logistics for weapons/supply drops to Kurds in Korbane, the very weapons they dropped were supplied “by Kurdish authorities in Iraq.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.