Egypt is accusing Turkey of working with the Islamic State on the Sinai Peninsula,

July 30, 2015 By administrator

A senior Foreign Ministry official said later that Egypt could prove Turkey was supporting the Islamic State affiliate in Sinai, Ansar Beit Al Maqdis, or Champions of Jerusalem, a terrorist group that has fired rockets at Israel and attacked security forces after the Egyptian military under Mr. el-Sisi overthrew the country’s Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi. The group also calls itself Wilayat Sinai, or Sinai Province.

“We have evidence linking the Turkish government to Ansar Beit Al Maqdis,” said the source. “This is in addition to the support the Turks have given to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.”

On July 4, Egyptians made public pictures of men killed or captured in Sinai who were suspected of being agents with Turkey’s intelligence agency, MiT. On July 23, the privately owned, pro-government Tahrir News identified the four men as MiT colonel Ismail Aly Bal and operatives Diaa El Din Mehmet Gado, Bakoush Al Hussaini Youzmi and Abd Allah Al Turki.

Egypt made the striking statements after Turkey launched its first attacks against the Islamic State in northern Syria last week and allowed the U.S. to use Turkish air bases for bombing runs against the militants after Turkey resisted American assaults from its territory for the past year.

Jacques Neriah, a former deputy head for assessment of Israeli military intelligence, said the American-Turkish cooperation likely reflected Ankara’s attempt to conduct damage control and bolster its image in Washington.

“I believe that after the Egyptians published the names of four captured Turkish agents, the Americans started asking Ankara tough questions,” Mr. Neriah said. “The Turks needed to reassure the Americans that they are in fact the good guys and this is why out of the blue they let the Americans use Incirlik [Air Base] in order to attack ISIS.”

Turkey unlikely to turn into target for Islamic State – Ruben Melkonyan

July 28, 2015 By administrator

Turkey has to this day been the Islamic State’s important ally rather than a target for it, expert in Turkic studies Ruben Melkonyan, told Tert.am as he commented on a document released by a Turkish court, which claims Turkey is the Islamic State’s principal target in the region.

“This conduct is typical of Turkey, and this country is an expert in changing masks in different periods – betraying the offender in favor of the defender, terrorists in favor of champions of anti-terrorism. I do not think anyone has forgotten Turkey’s active support to the Islamic State,” Mr Melkonyan sad.

The current developments are the result of the regional processes and the United State’s changed position.

“Previously by cashing in on Islam, Turkey was seeking a status of coordinating center for Islamic forces and terrorist groups, whereas it is changing its mask to appear as a national battling terrorism,” the expert said.

The United States obviously caused a situation by means of Islamic extremists only to destroy the extremist movements later, which is actually happening now.

“I think the policy was aimed at turning the territories under extremists’ control into a state controlled by pro-US forces or into a state-like structure with the lowest possible number of extremist groups or people favoring extremist ideas,” Mr Melkonyan said.

With respect to Turkey statements that terrorists plan terrorist acts in its territory, the expert said:

“Turkey expected the threat to a certain extent. Actions are sure to exceed the forecasts, but I do not think turkey will become a clear target for the Islamic State as the two are linked to each other through various events. Turkey is now striking extremist groups, which will ensure a favorable reputation for the country in the world as a champion of anti-terrorist struggle.”

Islamic State kills at least 145 in Syria’s Kobani attack

June 26, 2015 By administrator

Islamic State fighters killed at least 145 civilians in an attack on the Syrian town of Kobani and a nearby village, in what a monitoring group described on Friday as the second worst massacre carried out by the hardline group in Syria, according to Reuters.

Fighting between the Kurdish YPG militia and Islamic State fighters who infiltrated the town at the Turkish border on Thursday, June 25 continued into a second day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group and a Kurdish official said.

A separate Islamic State assault on government-held areas of the northeastern city of Hasaka was reported to have forced 60,000 people to flee their homes, the United Nations said, warning as many as 200,000 people may eventually try to flee.

Islamic State has a record of conducting large scale killings of civilians in territory it captures in both Iraq and Syria, where it has proclaimed a caliphate to rule over all Muslims according to an ultra-hardline vision of Islam.

The attack on the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani and the nearby village of Brakh Bootan marked the biggest single massacre of civilians by Islamic State in Syria since it killed hundreds of members of the Sunni Sheitaat tribe last year, Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory, said.

He said 146 civilians had been killed. Kurdish officials said at least 145 had died.

The assault included at least three suicide car bombs. The dead included the elderly, women and children, he said.

The Islamic State fighters were reported to number in the dozens and entered the town in five cars disguised as members of the YPG and Syrian rebel groups.

In their other assault on Friday, Islamic State fighters clashed with Syrian government forces in the south of Hasaka for a second day and shells hit areas in the center, the Observatory said.

It appeared that Islamic State was also fanning out toward the southeast of the city, which is divided into zones run separately by the Syrian government and a Kurdish administration that oversees the YPG.

The twin attacks which began on Thursday showed the fighters returning to the offensive after two weeks of defeats at the hands of Kurdish-led forces, supported by U.S.-led air strikes. Earlier this week the Kurds advanced to within 50 km (30 miles) of Raqqa city, the de facto capital of Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate.

In the latest battles, Islamic State has picked targets where it is difficult for the U.S.-led alliance to provide air support to those fighting on the ground. In Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, aerial bombardment risks civilian casualties in residential areas targeted in the attack.

In Hasaka the Islamic State targets were in areas controlled by President Bashar al-Assad. The U.S.-led coalition, which has been bombing Islamic State targets in both Syria and Iraq since last year, has ruled out cooperating with Damascus.

Photo: Reuters

Islamic State releases first Turkish publication

June 10, 2015 By administrator

An Islamic State fighter walks near a black flag belonging to the Islamic State as a Turkish army

BY Metin Gurcan Columnist for Al monitor

Pro-Islamic State (IS) groups have issued their first online periodical in Turkish. Believed to be designed by veteran IS digital experts at Al-Hayat Media Center, which is known for its highly professional work, the periodical launched its first edition last week, titled “Konstantiniyye” — referring to Constantinople, Istanbul’s name before its conquest by the Ottoman army.

The 46-page periodical includes symbolically relevant visual material that offers important clues to IS’ strategic vision of Turkey.

The main theme of the first issue is the conquest of Konstantiniyye, as it coincides with the anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul on May 29, 1453. The unsigned lead editorial explains that the periodical is published because of a “lack of access for Turkish people, especially Muslims, to news, articles and videos that are published in the Islamic State.”

The first article is about the city’s conquest. The article states that although the city was conquered by Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II on May 29, 1453, Konstantiniyye was not really conquered; it has to be conquered again, this time by the “armies of Islam.” The article begins with the Prophet Muhammad extolling the importance of Istanbul. The strategic vision of IS for Istanbul is inspired by the hadiths (the prophet’s sayings), especially the one that predicts that the Islamic armies will first engage the Romans in a major war at Aleppo, close to the Day of Judgment; following that war they will go to Konstantiniyye to conquer it “without arms.”

The article ends by stating, “As you will understand from these hadiths, this city now called Istanbul will be conquered without weapons and without bloodshed — only with chants of ‘God is great.’ The new army of the caliphate, rebuilt as ordained by the prophet, with God’s blessing, will thus capture the city.”

The articles in this first issue, in general, do not advocate violence against Turkey. This may be interpreted as IS refraining from declaring Turkey as an enemy, at least for the time being. It is not clear whether this attitude reflects their opinion of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Why such a careful attitude toward Turkey? The answer to this question can be found in another article, titled “Immigration.” The message in that article implies that IS does not see Turkey as a battlefield but as a rich source of human resources. All Muslims of Turkey, in particular those in the fields of engineering, health care, education and the military, are invited to emigrate to the Islamic State. Hence, it becomes clear that capturing and holding on to territory is important in the strategic narrative of IS.

A poem that promises the conquest of Istanbul with chants of God’s greatness is seen as a way of praising the glory of the Ottomans, making one wonder whether there is some strategic reason behind it and whether IS is trying to assume the label of “protector of the Sunni world,” against Iranian expansionism. If so, then it would mean a radical shift in the strategic vision of IS. The ambition to take over the role of the Ottoman Empire by challenging the nearby enemy of Iran and Shiite expansionism, and the distant enemy of the West and its values, suggest that IS has global aspirations.

It is possible to interpret the article titled “Who is an Apostate?” as a discreet threat to political decision-makers in Turkey, particularly the AKP elites. The basic message to the AKP in this article is that “if you don’t mess with us, we will not mess with you as long as you don’t become apostates.” IS here openly warns the AKP that if it takes action against IS, those involved will be declared apostates and their legitimacy will be questioned in front of the Sunni world.

The article “Democracy on Fire,” accompanied by a photo of coffins of US soldiers wrapped in US flags, without a doubt reflects IS’ perception of democracy as the worst enemy. The article explains, “Democracy can never be compatible with Islam. These are two different religions. No other religion and ideology is compatible with Islam. You cannot add a qualifier to a Muslim. There cannot be a democratic Muslim, communist Muslim, socialist Muslim, Jewish Muslim or Buddhist Muslim. This calls for the Islamic world and Turkey to fight against democracy.” The article is perceived as a reaction to the Kurdish radical Islamist Huda-Par (Free Cause Party). Pro-IS thinkers in Turkey are thus saying the recent elections are not legitimate in their eyes while trying to attract the Huda-Par voters to its ranks.

However, the IS periodical does not include any distinctly anti-Kurdish articles and visual material, apart from challenging Huda-Par. This indicates that radical Islamist Kurds in Turkey constitute for IS a major source of manpower, and that IS is focused on attracting Islamist Kurdish youths.

The article “After Blowing Up the White House, We Want Paris” is a collection of stiff messages to Europe and the United States. After stating that the Kobani resistance of the Kurds succeeded with the efforts of the coalition forces under US leadership, the article resorts to sarcasm: “Congratulations, Pentagon. May the Crusaders enjoy the rubble at Kobani … If you are dreaming of Mosul, Tikrit, Shengal and a piece of a forest in Nigeria we will make your life miserable and blow up your White House, Big Ben and Eiffel Tower.”

From this first online periodical in Turkish, one can conclude — at least for the time being — that IS does not see Turkey as a battlefield, and that Turkey will not be conquered with weapons. Hence, IS is expected to continue to appeal primarily to the hearts and minds of Kurdish youths. The publication also makes it clear — with its message, “We are the soldiers of the mission declared by the prophet” — that there is strong emphasis on Aleppo and the prophet’s visions.

For the first time, we see how closely IS is monitoring the changes in political Islam in Turkey, and how it is looking for a place for itself in that transformation. There is no doubt that Turkish Islamism represented by the AKP has been tarnished with corruption allegations. IS appears to be fusing its ideology with Islamism and Ottomanism in Turkey to create a new radical Islamist school of thought there that could motivate the Islamist masses already disengaged from socio-economic life and democracy closer to IS.

That IS has a long-term strategic vision for Turkey is the most important message the periodical is sending. It emphasizes the popular-centric approach aimed at winning the hearts and minds of Turks, instead of armed violence and terror; hence the call to conquer Istanbul not with weapons but with Islamist spiritual action.

Metin Gurcan

Columnist

Metin Gurcan served in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Iraq as a Turkish military adviser between 2002-2008. Resigned from the military, he is now a research fellow on security policies for an Ankara-based think tank. Gurcan is currently writing his PhD dissertation on changes in the Turkish military over the last decade. He has been published extensively in Turkish and foreign academic journals and has a book forthcoming in December 2015 titled “What Went Wrong in Afghanistan?: Understanding Counter-insurgency in Tribalized Rural Muslim Environments.” On Twitter:

Islamist Websites in Turkey Manage to Evade Strict Internet Censorship not Kurd

March 13, 2015 By administrator

By TIM ARANGO MARCH 13, 2015

A hallmark of the leadership of President Erdogan has been a crackdown on freedom of expression. Credit Burhan Ozbilici/Associated Press

ISTANBUL — The websites of an atheist association, the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a Kurdish separatist organization are blocked to Turkish Internet users. But many sites that promote extreme Islamist messages — even some that are outright sympathetic to the Islamic State, the militant organization that has marauded through Iraq and Syria — escape Turkey’s censors.

A hallmark of the decade-long leadership of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Islamist Justice and Development Party, or A.K.P., has been a crackdown on freedom of expression. Yet what Turkey chooses to censor reflects the Islamist values of the government, critics say. With the rise of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, this dynamic has been set in sharp relief, highlighting the deep divide between Turkey and its Western allies in the fight against the militants. report New York Times

The contradictions are often striking, as Turkey largely maintains a hands-off approach to extremist Islamist expression while widely cracking down on other speech. Last year, for instance, Twitter fielded more requests from Turkey to remove material than from any other country. And lately, a beauty queen, a top newspaper editor, an actor, a teenage boy and dozens of others have been targeted by prosecutors for insulting Mr. Erdogan.

At the same time, one prominent site, Takva Haber, a widely used forum for recruiting Turks to the Islamic State, operates freely. It is also a popular news site for jihadists, and it recently offered tips to fighters in Iraq and Syria about how to avoid being spotted by drones from the American-led coalition carrying out an air campaign against the militants.

“It sparked curiosity in me and guided me to the forums where people provide information about the recruitment process and logistics,” said Can, a 27-year-old from Ankara, the capital, who had joined the Islamic State and then defected, speaking on condition that he be identified only by his middle name, out of fear of reprisals.

“The ISIS Internet community in Turkey is big and has a big following,” he said. “That’s how everyone comes together and communicates. If we all met on the street, people would notice.”

American officials have sharply criticized Turkey for doing little to aid the fight against the Islamic State, denying coalition planes an air base for strikes in Syria and Iraq and standing by while the militants attacked the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani. American diplomats say the reluctance is attributable in part to the government’s dependence in this Sunni nation on a deep well of religious conservatism that bridles at assisting in attacks against a Sunni group, even one as brutal as the Islamic State.

But allowing militant websites to flourish is problematic, analysts say, alienating allies and, at worst, opening the government to accusations of tacitly collaborating with the militants.

“Leaving the ISIS propaganda to flourish is equivalent to endorsement,” said David L. Phillips, the director of the Program on Peace-building and Human Rights at Columbia University and a former State Department official who has researched Turkey’s policy on the Islamic State.

Turkey’s reluctance to crack down on militant websites also reflects the government’s view that the primary enemy in Syria is the government of President Bashar al-Assad, not the Islamic State. Turkey has also opposed efforts by Kurds within Syria to secure an autonomous region, fearing it would embolden Turkey’s restive Kurdish minority.

“They continue to be more concerned with Assad and Kurdish separatism than they are about ISIS,” said Richard N. Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Haass said Turkey’s reluctance to go after Islamic State-related websites is consistent with a “domestic tolerance” within Turkey toward the group.

The government’s priorities in the arena of censorship are protecting “the reputation of political figures” and religious defamation cases, such as the decision to block the Charlie Hebdo website, said Yaman Akdeniz, a cyberlaw expert and professor at Istanbul’s Bilgi University who is advising the legal teams defending the beauty queen and the atheist association.

“The censorship is in line with government sensitivities and matters that make them uncomfortable,” he said.

A senior government official, speaking anonymously as a matter of protocol, refused to address the issue of what is censored and what is not, at least not directly. “The regulation of the Internet is a very technical matter that involves many different factors, from citizen complaints to court orders,” he said. “The government doesn’t sit around a big table and make decisions on what should and shouldn’t be blocked.”

Susan Corke, the director of Eurasia programs at Freedom House, an advocacy group that promotes freedom of expression, said that the government’s censorship priorities were quite evident. “Apparently,” she wrote in an email, “that means blocking sites it deems offensive like those promoting atheism, but being tolerant of radical Islamist sites like Takva Haber.”

In addition to Takva Haber and countless Twitter accounts that promote the Islamic State, there is the work of Ebu Hanzala, a Turkish Salafist cleric who is sometimes called the “spiritual leader” of the militant group within Turkey. He has been arrested several times over the years — once on suspicion of planning attacks on synagogues in Istanbul, other times in raids targeting Al Qaeda — but he is free today, and his online magazine promotes Shariah law. While he does not explicitly promote the Islamic State, his teachings have helped inspire recruits.

Speaking in New York last week at the Council on Foreign Relations, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was asked by Mr. Haass about what appeared to be the contradiction of his participation in a march in Paris after the attack in January on Charlie Hebdo’s offices and Turkey’s record of censorship.

Mr. Davutoglu said, “Freedom of speech, that does not mean freedom of insult.”

Asked who decides what expression to censor and what to allow, Mr. Davutoglu said, “The social values decides.”

Turkey was no paragon of free speech under its old secular and nationalist system, although, then, the frequent offense was to insult notions of “Turkishness.” Now the government focuses on speech it deems insulting to Islam or the president, or that promotes atheism.

“Social values in Turkey today are Islamist values,” Mr. Phillips said. “The A.K.P. sees itself as the enforcer of Turkey’s values.”

Syria Armenian town Kessab again under sniper fire – Agos

February 26, 2015 By administrator

The Syrian border town of Kessab, which is mainly populated by ethnic Armenians

The Syrian border town of Kessab, which is mainly populated by ethnic Armenians, is amid increasing anxiety and fear under the Islamic State’s fresh threats.

Speaking to the Turkish-Armenian publication Agos, a resident of the city said that the town’s Armenian population has is now feeling like a captive as the confrontations between the conflicting sides continue.

“For us, even the smallest eruption between them costs a life. We cannot even work in our yards, as we are under snipers’ target,” the source complained.

Reports recently emerged that last year’s raid against the town was partly due also to Turkey’s assistance, which shelled the area.

Sounds of bomb explosion are now often heard in the town, which is not very far from the the Turkish border. The population of Kessab now leads a battle for survival under the Islamic State’s fresh threats.

“We have no other choice than to trust our country’s army. No one knows at all what bargaining is going on over Kessab. Developments evolve irrespective of our desire. No one can give guarantees that nothing of the kind will happen ever again. Turkey earlier did not deny the reports that they have links with what happened to us; neither has it guaranteed that it won’t be repeated. How can we sleep in peace in such conditions,” a resident of Kessab is quoted as saying.

Since Turkey is the “HUB” of islamic State isn’t time to stop Turkish Airline landing right?

February 26, 2015 By administrator

British lawmakers have invited Turkey’s ambassador to Britain and the CEO of Turkish national flag carrier Turkish Airlines to speak about the disappearance of three teenage girls who are believed to have flown to Istanbul before heading to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). hurriyet report

The U.K Parliament’s Home Affairs committee has asked Ambassador Abdurrahman Bilgiç and Turkish Airlines CEO Temel Kotil to give information about how Turkey has been used as a route by would-be jihadists from Europe.
Three teenage girls from London feared to have run off to join ISIL are believed to have crossed into Syria from Turkey, British police said.

Close friends Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase boarded a flight from London Gatwick to Istanbul on Feb. 17.

Their families have launched a public appeal for them to return home.

Turkey, which has been accused by its Western allies of failing to do enough to stop jihadists crossing into Syria from its territory, had earlier accused Britain of failing to provide information about the girls sooner.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said he hoped the girls would be found, but that it would be Britain, not Turkey, to blame if they were not, saying British authorities failed to inform their Turkish counterparts in time.

Speaking on Feb. 25, Prime Minister David Cameron denied there was a delay.

“My understanding is that the police did respond relatively quickly in terms of informing the Turkish authorities and what the Turkish deputy prime minister has said about a three-day delay is not accurate,” he said.

Assyrian Community ‘At Risk of Extinction’ from Islamic State

February 26, 2015 By administrator

People from the Yezidi community flee from massacres by Islamic State forces towards the Syrian border. Syria’s Assyrian community fears a similar fate if nothing is done to stop the Islamic State. (Photo: Reuters)

HASAKAH, Syria (RFE/RL)—An Assyrian Christian organization has warned that Syria’s Assyrian community could face a mass killing and has called on the international community to intervene, after militants from the Islamic State (IS) group abducted Assyrian Christians from villages in Syria’s Hasakah Province.

Karam Dola, a member of the Assyrian Democratic Organization in Hasakah Province told Radio Free Iraq reporter Manar Abdulrazzaq on February 24 that militants had overran rural villages populated by Assyrian Christians at dawn on February 23.

“In Tel Hormuz there were not many families, but there were more than 13 people, elderly men, women and children who were kidnapped,” Dola said.

According to Dola, up to 90 people from the village of Tel Shamiram are also considered missing.

“They were unable to escape when [the IS group] overran the area at dawn,” Dola added.

The British-based group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which monitors the violence in Syria via a network of contacts, also reported that at least 90 Assyrian Christians had been abducted by militants in Tel Shamiram and Tel Hormuz.

Moreover, SOHR said that 14 Islamic State militants had been killed in U.S.-led air strikes east of the town of Tel Hamis in Hasakah.

Dola said that on February 24, 34 villages on the banks of the Khabur River in Hasakah province had been evacuated and residents moved to Hasakah town or to the town of Qamishli.

The Assyrian community in Syria is extremely concerned about the situation, according to Dola, who told Radio Free Iraq that there are about 600 Assyrian families in Hasakah province.

“We in the Assyrian Democratic Organization have sent out a distress call to the international community and to all national forces to immediately intervene and prevent the occurrence of [the] expected massacre,” Dola said.

Dola warned that the Assyrian community in Syria is “at risk of extinction.”

According to the pro-opposition Step News Agency, the Islamic State group’s military commander in Syria, the Georgian-born ethnic Chechen Kist Umar Shishani, is leading the offensive in Hasakah. That news, which is plausible based on previous offensives in northern Syria, has not been independently reported on pro-Islamic State Russian-language social media.

Breaking News: 3 in Brooklyn Charged With Aiding Islamic State

February 25, 2015 By administrator

Three men living in Brooklyn were arrested and charged on Wednesday with providing material support to the Islamic State, a terrorist organization that controls large parts of Iraq and Syria and has been actively recruiting Westerners to its fight.
One of the men was arrested early Wednesday morning at Kennedy International Airport, where he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul and then planned to travel to Syria, according to the authorities. Report NYT
The men were identified as Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, Akhror Saidakhmetov, and Abror Habibov – all citizens of Uzbekistan who were living in Brooklyn.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, the authorities first became suspicious about at least two of the men in August and are concerned that more individuals might have been involved.
According to the complaint, one of the men who sought to travel to Syria to fight said that if he failed to make it overseas, he would launch attacks in the United States, including planting a bomb on Coney Island and attacking President Obama.
READ MORE »
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/nyregion/3-men-in-brooklyn-charged-supporting-isis.html?emc=edit_na_20150225

Syrian Kurds cut IS supply line near Iraq as fears for Christians mount

February 25, 2015 By administrator

Kurdish militia pressed a big offensive against Islamic State in northeast Syria on Wednesday, Feb 25 cutting one of its supply lines from Iraq, as fears mounted for dozens of Christians abducted by the hardline group that recently beheaded 21 Egyptian Copts, Reuters reports.

At least 90 Assyrian Christians were seized from villages in Hasaka province in a mass abduction coinciding with the offensive in the same region by Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led air strikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the conflict.

The Syriac National Council of Syria put the figure as high as 150. Hundreds more Christians have fled to the two main cities in Hasaka province, according to the Syriac council and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is tracking the conflict.

Islamic State has killed members of religious minorities and Sunni Muslims who do not swear allegiance to its self-declared “caliphate”. The group last week released a video showing its members beheading 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya.

The abductions in Syria follow advances by Kurdish forces against Islamic State in areas of the northeast near the Iraqi border – an area of vital importance to the group as one of the bridges between land it controls in Iraq and Syria.

“They want to show themselves strong, playing on the religion string, at a time when they are being hit hard,” said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the British-based Observatory, speaking by telephone.

The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, backed by U.S.-led air strikes, last month drove Islamic State from the Syrian town of Kobani, since when further signs of strain have been seen in the group’s ranks.
Photo: AP
Related links:
Reuters. Syrian Kurds cut IS supply line near Iraq; fears for Christians mount