Syria: Islamic Front rebel leader brands Kobane’s Kurdish defenders as enemies
The leader of Syria’s Islamic Front rebels says he intends to “liberate” the besieged border town of Kobane from its occupiers, including the Syrian Kurdish fighters currently defending it.
In a videoed press conference, Zahran Alloush, who heads an alliance of rebel forces reported to number 45,000, accused the Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) of being loyal to the Damascus regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
He also branded Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party, with which the PYD is allied, of serving the Assad regime.
Such accusations from Sunni Arab rebel groups are nothing new, but Alloush’s latest comments may reflect frustration that the fate of Kobane is taking away attention from the broader struggle against the Assad regime and focusing too much on the heroism of the besieged Kurds.