MESOP : Aranews – Tensions in Amuda

WEST KURDISTAN (SYRIA)

29.6.2014 –  Kurdish forces of the Popular Protection Units (YPG) reinforced its control over Amude city in northeastern Syria on Wednesday by receiving around 60 SUV cars carrying dozens of YPG fighters from other Kurdish-populated areas in Syria.

Activists in the city told ARA News that the YPG installed security checkpoints in the environs of Amude amid reports of possible attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).“All entrances of the city are blocked by the YPG members, as a state of alert overshadowed the city,” a local source (who preferred anonymity) told ARA News.

“The YPG claimed receiving information about potential bombardment of the city by ISIL militants.”However, residents of Amude argued that the YPG (military arm of the Democratic Union Party ‘PYD’) is merely trying to prevent them from reviving the first anniversary of what is known as “Amude massacre” –where 6 civilians were killed during a demonstration in the city when the YPG forces opened fire against the demonstrators last year. The Local Committee of the Kurdish National Council in Amude invited people to gather in the victims’ cemetery, outside the city, on June 27. However, the general leadership of the PYD-linked Assayish forces “warned from any unauthorized rally” and from “reopening Amude file as it may lead to chaos in the city”. http://aranews.net/2014/06/isil-attack-kurdish-area-north-syria-ypg/