The recent string of victories of the Syrian-Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG)
against the ISIL-held town of Tal Abyad, on the Syrian-Turkish border, and the
seizure of an ISIL military base outside of the so-called Islamic State's declared
capital of Raqqa, demonstrate how non-state militias have achieved greater success
in this war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant than the conventional
militaries of Iraq and Syria.
Apparently the YPG's offensives were conducted in tandem with US air strikes,
similar to the scenario in Tikrit, Iraq, where the US ultimately relented and launched
air strikes along with an offensive led by the Iranian-allied Iraqi Shia militias.
In both Tikrit and Tal Abyad, it was the combination of US air power and an alliance
with local militias that secured victory against well-entrenched ISIL fighters. In both
cases, the US had allied with militias, not conventional militaries, that Washington
had been wary of supporting.
The Syrian YPG is affiliated with the Turkish Workers Party (PKK), which is officially
on the US state department's list of terrorist groups.
Syrian Kurds reclaim Tal Abyad in country's
north
Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi Shia militia, is also on the list, yet it took part in the battle
to expel ISIL from Tikrit, bringing the goals of the US and this Shia group together in
the birthplace of Saddam Hussein.
Identity-based communities
The dynamics of these battles have forced Washington into an uneasy, de-facto
alliance with militias like the YPG and Kataib Hezbollah. What these fighting forces
have in common is that they view ISIL as an existential threat to their communities.
ISIL has proved determined to combat the Kurds of YPG, particularly in the past over
the town of Kobane, not only for territory, but because the YPG's combination of
secular, non-sectarian, ethno-nationalism is anathema to ISIL's transnational Islamist
identity. ISIL has proven to target Shia Muslims for the simple reason that it has
declared all members of the sect as non-believers.
ISIL represents a threat to both of these identity-based communities, and thus the
militias of both groups have proven more motivated and tenacious in combating ISIL
fighters, making them worthy partners with the US aim of countering ISIL.
The YPG victories have
severed one of ISIL's
primary arteries into Turkey
itself, removing one of the
links ISIL has utilised to sell
black market oil and
antiquities, in addition to
serving as a conduit for its
foreign fighters...
Granted, the YPG's fighting strength has been strengthened with Peshmerga fighters
from the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party(KDP), and the Shia militias include fighters
from the Iraqi Dawa and Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, all parties who began a
working relationship with the US during their pre-2003 years as part of the Iraqi
opposition.
However, the amorphous coalition against ISIL has allied the US with Iran as well,
and Iranian-supported militias or PKK-affiliated groups, and the past precedents
indicate that only when all of these elements cooperate can victories against ISIL
result in depriving the group of territory on the ground.
Bizarre constellation of forces
Further victories may result from the deployment of more US Special Forces in the
battle, or the much vaunted Iraqi forces retrained by the US at the moment, but as of
yet, it is a bizarre constellation of forces that have achieved victory against ISIL, itself
another bizarre constellation of purported former Baathists, local Iraqis and Syrian
fighters, and foreign fighters, including a contingent of Western converts to Islam.
The YPG's success, however, will certainly alarm the Turkish state, concerned about
the Kurdish resurgence on its border. The de-facto alliance between the US and
YPG has alarmed Turkey and continues to fray US-Turkish relations. As the YPG is
affiliated with the PKK, the Turkish security establishment no doubt worries about a
resurgent Kurdish entity on its border.
Furthermore, a Turkish party, the HPD, which was given the blessing of jailed PKK
leader Abdullah Ocalan to represent the aspirations of Turkey's Kurds, fared
relatively well in the recent Turkish elections, entering the parliament and preventing
the incumbent AK party from transforming Turkey into a presidential system under
Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The combination of both recent events, signalling the
empowerment of Turkish and Syrian Kurds, will certainly raise concerns among
political elites in Turkey.
YPG fighters gather at the eastern entrance
to the town of Tal Abyad [REUTERS]
Furthermore, the YPG victories have severed one of ISIL's primary arteries into
Turkey itself, removing one of the links ISIL has utilised to sell black market oil and
antiquities, in addition to serving as a conduit for its foreign fighters who come to
Raqqa via the area that surrounds Tal Abyad.