Syria’s state media agency SANA has issued a report today claiming they are providing both “direct and indirect” military aid to Kurdish factions within Kobani to help them fend off ISIS.
The report did not specify which factions were receiving the aid, and the PYD, the largest faction, rejected the claim as “propaganda,” knowing that the confirmation of a link to the Assad government would portray them in a more negative light with US and other coalition members.
Yet it makes total sense that such a relationship would be the case, as the major Kurdish blocs went out of their way not to present themselves as “rebels” against Assad, but rather setting up interim autonomy while the war raged. ISIS has been a primary enemy for both, and the fall of Kobani would give ISIS a straight shot deeper into Syrian government territory.
The SANA report was a government response to complaints from Syrian Kurdish MPs who accused the government of not being involved enough in Kobani. Their answer was to hype their involvement.
