A Kurdish Alamo: Five Reasons the Battle for Kobane Matters - Syria in Crisis - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

A Kurdish Alamo: Five Reasons the Battle for Kobane Matters - Syria in Crisis - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

A Kurdish Alamo: Five Reasons the Battle for Kobane Matters

Posted by: KATHERINE WILKENS  

n the last three weeks Kobane, a strategically located Kurdish enclave along the Syrian-Turkish border, has become a focal point of the international campaign against the Sunni extremist faction known as the Islamic State. The attacking jihadis are facing fierce resistance from the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a militia linked to the Democratic Unity Party (PYD), which is the primary Kurdishpolitical party in Syria. The PYD is linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an outlawed Kurdish group in Turkey.

The YPG has fought an uneven battle to prevent the Islamic State from overtaking the city and cementing control over long swathes of territory along the Syrian-Turkish border....