JERUSALEM ONLINE : Kurdish Militants Make Gains in Northern Syria

26-3-2014 – Gabriel Avner – Militants belonging to the People’s Protection Units (YPG) were reported today to have defeated Islamist forces in the northern Syrian town of Kobani. The gains come as Iraqi Kurds have called for the release of an Iraqi Kurdish officer who killed the editor in chief of Radio Free Iraq in Baghdad on Sunday.

In yet another round of fierce fighting, militants from the Kurdish YPG opposition group are reported to have killed at least nine fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the town of Kobani.

In addition to the nine Islamist militants who died in the fighting, YPG soldiers are said to have injured another 21 ISIS combatants. There are no reports regarding casualties from the YPG at this time.

Forces from the YPG have been engaged in intensive yet sporadic fighting against both ISIS as well as at times units from the Syrian military under the command of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Just a few weeks ago, YPG fighters succeeded in expelling ISIS militants from Tell Brak and a number of the surrounding villages.

Meanwhile in Iraq, a captain from the elite Peshmerga unit of the presidential guard is being held by forces loyal to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in the killing of Radio Free Iraq’s editor in chief, Muhammad Bidaiwi. The killing occurred at the entrance to the Kurdish held compound in the Green Zone in Baghdad. The circumstances that led to the shooting of the journalist. In statements coming from the Iraqi prime minister, he has promised to return ‘blood for blood’ further inflaming tensions with the Kurdish population. Kurds in Iraq have begun calling for the officer’s release, viewing him as a political prisoner and have set out on a campaign to regain his freedom.     http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/middle-east/the-arab-world/kurdish-militants-make-gains-in-northern-syria-4491