Aleppo Kurds Fear al-Qaeda Will Take Their Towns

'War Within a War' Could Give AQI Pretext to Attack

Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) doesn’t really need an excuse to attack Kurdish villages, and has hit them off and on in recent months in the Aleppo Province, mostly revenge for having been ousted from the nation’s northeast by Kurdish militias.

But the Aleppo Kurds say that with the outbreak of a “war within a war” between AQI And other rebel factions, territory grabs are becoming even more common and that’s making them a target.

Some Kurdish dominated villages have sought support from the anti-AQI rebel factions, but many warn that those offers of support come at a cost, and are giving AQI an excuse to hit those villages first.

The rebel infighting started in the northwest, with factions taking AQI’s less secure possessions in Idlib and Latakia, but now spans most of the rebel-held north, with Aleppo the site of some of the bloodiest clashes.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.