MESOP Syria Feature: Kurds Take Airbase from Rebels as Turkey Issues A Warning

by Scott Lucas – 12 Feb 2016 – eaworldview

urkey has issued another warning to a leading Kurdish militia, as the Kurdish force captured an airbase in northwest Syria from rebels.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu repeated the claim on Thursday that the YPG, the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), is connected with the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK, which is listed as a “terrorist organization” by Ankara, the US, and the European Union.“As I have said, the link between the YPG and the PKK is obvious. If the YPG threatens our security, then we will do what is necessary,” Davutoğlu told reporters on Thursday.

The statement came as the YPG moved into Menagh Airbase, just south of the town of Azaz near the Turkish border. A rebel commander, Zekeriya Karsli of the Levant Front, confirmed the loss and said, “The fall of Menagh airport has made the situation on the ground pretty grim.”

Kurdish forces moving on the base: Kurdish forces have taken advantage of the regime-Iranian-Hezbollah offensive, made possible by intense Russian airstrikes, against rebels to seize territory in recent weeks. They have claimed the town of Deir Jamal on the border and surrounding villages. S ome Kurdish leaders have expressed the goal of linking the Afrin canton in northwest Syria with the Kobane and Cezire cantons in the northeast to establish a unified Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava). www.mesop.de