MESOP : WILL PESHMERGA LIBERATE KOBANI ?

New Peshmerga Force to be Sent to Kobani

Basnews  |  Hemin Salih – ERBIL – 23 Nov 2014 – New group of Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces to be sent to the besieged Kurdish city of Kobani in Syrian Kurdistan.

The Kurdish Peshmerga force sent to the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani appears to have shifted the balance of power, with a reported 70% of the city under the control of People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters. The Iraqi Kurdish soldiers will be relieved by a second Peshmerga unit and return to the Kurdistan Region, according to sources. BasNews understands that, with 70% of Kobani under the control of Kurdish fighters, the risk of the city falling to Islamic State insurgents is regarded as negligible. The leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Salih Muslim, said during a recent visit to Europe that although Kurdish Peshmerga and the YPG will defend the city to the death, they desperately need European countries to provide them with more weapons and military equipment, specifically heavy weapons. “The only weapons that Kurdish fighters have received came from the Kurdistan Region. This protects Kurdish national unity,” he said. IS militants have besieged Kobani for over two months, displacing thousands of residents, who have fled across the border to Turkey.