http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/13/middleeast/iraq-free-sinjar-isis/
It's always good to see the Kurds taking important locations away from ISIS.
Kurdish Military, With Some Help From the US, Has Freed Sinjar From ISIS
- Thread starter Shadow Dragon
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It's always good to see the Kurds taking important locations away from ISIS.
[h=1]Mass grave of 'Yazidi women executed by ISIS' found in Iraq[/h] Source: AFP
IRBIL, Iraq: A mass grave believed to hold the remains of dozens of Yazidi women executed by ISIS was found Saturday in northern Iraq, officials said.
The grave, which has not yet been excavated, is located on the edge of the town of Sinjar, which was captured from ISIS this week in an operation led by Kurdish security forces and backed by U.S.-led airstrikes.
The area is infamous for a brutal ISIS campaign of massacres, enslavement and rape against Yazidis, a minority group whose faith the jihadis consider heretical.
The grave contains the bodies of some 78 women aged between 40 to around 80, according to younger women who had been enslaved by ISIS, witnessed the executions and later escaped, said Miyasir Hajji, a Sinjar council member. "It seems the (ISIS) terrorist members only wanted young girls to enslave," Hajji said, a reference to jihadis using women as sex slaves who can be bought and sold.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Mi...idi-women-executed-by-isis-found-in-iraq.ashx
IRBIL, Iraq: A mass grave believed to hold the remains of dozens of Yazidi women executed by ISIS was found Saturday in northern Iraq, officials said.
The grave, which has not yet been excavated, is located on the edge of the town of Sinjar, which was captured from ISIS this week in an operation led by Kurdish security forces and backed by U.S.-led airstrikes.
The area is infamous for a brutal ISIS campaign of massacres, enslavement and rape against Yazidis, a minority group whose faith the jihadis consider heretical.
The grave contains the bodies of some 78 women aged between 40 to around 80, according to younger women who had been enslaved by ISIS, witnessed the executions and later escaped, said Miyasir Hajji, a Sinjar council member. "It seems the (ISIS) terrorist members only wanted young girls to enslave," Hajji said, a reference to jihadis using women as sex slaves who can be bought and sold.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Mi...idi-women-executed-by-isis-found-in-iraq.ashx
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Daesh is losing the war. The attack in Paris was pretty much an attempt to foment an irrational vengeful response from the West. It may succeed.
Kurds in Syria's North were making advances. The Kurds in Iraq was holding their own, and is now making advances. The best Western strategy for the medium term would be two-fold: 1) promise to recognise a Kurdish state in Iraq and Syria, and to guarantee it, if they win; 2) Come down really, really hard on Turkey to stop bombing the Kurds in Syria and Iraq. That won't be easy - but it's easier than all other options.
Kurds in Syria's North were making advances. The Kurds in Iraq was holding their own, and is now making advances. The best Western strategy for the medium term would be two-fold: 1) promise to recognise a Kurdish state in Iraq and Syria, and to guarantee it, if they win; 2) Come down really, really hard on Turkey to stop bombing the Kurds in Syria and Iraq. That won't be easy - but it's easier than all other options.
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We all support the Kurds and wish them well in their fight with the Daesh. But it will take more than them alone to defeat this enemy. The primary reason that Daesh has made the gains it has is because all the regional and international players have been too busy fighting each other and advancing their own agendas. The day we can get the Assad regime, the FSA, Al Nusra, the Kurds, the Iraqi Army, and yes, Turkey, to cooperate against these guys they will go down rather quickly.
I suspect backing the Kurds to the extent they deserve and need would include defending them against Turkey, at least while Erdogan's in power.
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The most infuriating thing is that the West is flailing around for dependable and "normal" allies in the region. That'd be the Kurds. But we're so enmeshed in the sticky plaster of regional politics that it's not easy to do the right thing here. Iraq would be furious about recognition of Iraqi Kurdistan. As would Turkey, which is using the conflict in Syria to kill Kurds - including Kurds in YPG/YPJ and Peshmerga - in Syria and Iraq.
Like I said before, the Kurds - compared to a liberal democratic movement anywhere else in the world - falls flat. But compared to groupings like Daesh, Al Nusra Front, and many of the other groupings and alliances here, they're on the side of angels.
Like I said before, the Kurds - compared to a liberal democratic movement anywhere else in the world - falls flat. But compared to groupings like Daesh, Al Nusra Front, and many of the other groupings and alliances here, they're on the side of angels.
Well, we had our chance to support a democracy movement in Syria three years ago, and blew it. Before that it was a Sunni-Shia integrated state in Iraq, and we turned the other way. Before that it was the Kurds during the first Gulf War, and we left them twisting in the wind. We've done everything possible to sacrifice our own credibility in that region. But hey, we could always start acting smart.
At this point, I'd say it'd be almost worth it to piss off Turkey to make an independent Kurdish nations. Maybe the US, the Kurds, and a third party negotiator could get Turkey to be okay with it if it's promised that they wont' get any Turkish land. Maybe even get Turkey to allow the Kurds in their territory to simply move to the new Kurdistan nation.
The commitment of the Kurds and the successes they have achieved demonstrate that progressive nationalism can be an effective counter to religious fundamentalism and obscurantism in the region. An independent Kurdistan would be an effective counter to the IS and its offshoots/successors. Unfortunately, Turkey would do its damndest to prevent such an outcome.
I remember reading somewhere that the IS fighters hate to encounter Kurdish women fighters, since for the IS there is no worse fate than to be killed by a woman.
I remember reading somewhere that the IS fighters hate to encounter Kurdish women fighters, since for the IS there is no worse fate than to be killed by a woman.