The Kurdish Peshmerga, backed by fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), succeeded in retaking the Yazidi town of Sinjar in northwestern Iraq, capping a 7,500 man offensive in the region and taking control of a stretch of highway between ISIS city of Mosul and its territory in Syria.
German filmmaker Carsten Stormer, embedded with the PKK fighters, reported no resistance from the ISIS fighters, saying he saw only one dead ISIS fighters in his whole time following the fighters into the city. He added that the PKK “arrived first” in Sinjar. PKK leaders said they got their “four hours before the peshmerga.”
While the highway is of some strategic value to ISIS, the main victory here is a symbolic one, as Sinjar and the Yazidis have been a major talking point for factions agitating for war against ISIS, and recovering the town for the Yazidis can be hyped as a much bigger deal than most towns of 70,000-80,000 people would be.
The high-profile role the PKK played in the recovery of the town however may be an even bigger problem for the Peshmerga, as the PKK are in the middle of an increasingly bloody war with Turkey, and the Turkish military has been bombing PKK targets in northern Iraq already, potentially making the PKK forces in and around Sinjar another target for Turkish airstrikes.
It is getting out in the open — finally. PKK is an asset. Whose? It is not Turkey's, not Iraqi's, not Syriea's, not Iran's, not Russian, not Jordanian, Saudi or Egyptian. You guess by yourself who has been arming and funding decades old secessionist PKK in Turkey. For as long as Turkey would behave and do as told, PKK would be reigned in. Otherwise, it is unleashed on Turkey's army or police, or postal service — whoever they could get their hands on. After ISIS takeover of Mosul, and consequent loss of link between Iraqi Kurds and Bagdad — hundreds of "advisors" moved into Iraqi Kurdistan. For what purpose? We see it now. To insure that PKK takes over the control of Iraqi Kurds. It was so clear from day one — usually Peshmerga were lionized in western press, but following the loss of Mosul, and after some skirmishes with ISIS, they were ridiculed. Peshmerga complained that PKK is trying to take credit for the offensive, and sure enough, they did. Even EMBEDDED western media was on hand to report how PKK was FIRST to liberate the township. Numerous attempts at attacking Syrian Kurds to "soften" them by ISIS atrocities were always followed up by the complaints against Turkey's objection of PKK "helping" Syrian Kurds. Yes, the "help" is coming in the form of control on behalf of their funding masters. It is clearly and blatantly obvious that, should effort to destroy Syria fail, at least a Kosovo-style agent of provocation would remain in the region, sitting on the borders of Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. Any infrastructure for long-term destabilization of the region is not good. It is a formula for on going economic problems, and in the long run, it will destroy the economies of those who promote such policy. It requires no additional proof that Europe has been destroyed by Libyan, Syrian and Iraqi adventures. Refugees, economic migrants, terrorism — all combine for an explosive mixture that will destroy economy and peace for generation of Europeans. They must wake up — cannot be too soon. Good news is that Saudi Arabia in a leaked instructions to its embassies in the Middle East is cutting its funding to Syrian militants. Saudi finances — and the finances of their Gulf minions — are in worse shape then believed. Thus, King is going to Russia, and Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran are meeting soon on energy issues. Saudi Arabia is seeking to get access to the largest global infrastructure project, Silk Road and Belts that are fully integrated with Eurasian Economic Union that streamlines rail and energy transit from China across Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus. Saudi Arabia cannot be the strategic leader of Arab world, not even Sunni world, and is giving this up. Its place will take Egypt over time, that handwriting is on the wall.