MESOP : NOT UNITY – BUT MORE INTERNAL KURDISH TROUBLE AHEAD / PKK Warns Against Shelling Sinjar Mountain

07.09.2014 – Hemin Salih – BasNews, Erbil – The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has claimed that there is a plan to shell their fighters on Mount Sinjar. Peshmerga Forces Commander on the mountain Qasim Shasho pointed out that there are Kurdish Peshmerga forces and other Kurdish militia on the mountain, and any shelling would endanger them all.

The People’s Protection Units (YPG), military ally of the PKK on Sinjar Mountain, said that there is a plan to shell their fighters in areas under their control to show it as a place controlled by the Islamic State (IS) insurgents. They accuse a Kurdish political party without revealing its name. They warned that if the intelligence they have received about shelling their fighters is true, they will hold the unnamed party responsible. Shasho told BasNews, ‘On Sinjar Mountain, there are no IS militants, only PKK fighters, Peshmerga forces and Yazidi youths. The number of Yazidi exceeds all of these forces together.’ ‘The US knows that there are no IS insurgents on Sinjar Mountain, and they won’t shell any forces that fight against IS militants,’ said Shasho. He also mentioned that when they have enough of the required type of weapons, Peshmerga forces can free Sinjar Town within 48 hours. ‘The number of IS insurgents have been greatly reduced. They are only in the center of the town,’ added Shasho.