WASHINGTON, D.C. – To fight ISIS in Syria, President Obama is relying on the year-long training of Free Syrian Army soldiers and others who have allegiances to various jihadist groups, including al-Qaida, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
Meanwhile, a battled-tested Kurdish force already is fighting ISIS in northern Syria. However, an Obama administration decision to work closely with the Kurds would put the U.S. as odds with Turkey, a member of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
As WND reported, Turkey has been aiding ISIS and has refused to join the U.S.-led coalition against the brutal jihadist army, which has committed atrocities such as beheadings in its takeover of large portions of northern Syria and Iraq.
The Syrian Kurds, who live in an area wedged between Iraq and Turkey, comprise some 9 percent of the Syrian population. As a concession to the Kurds fighting the jihadists, Assad has granted them virtual autonomy.
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The Kurds fear, however, that if Assad regains much of Syria, he would attempt to re-impose central control from Damascus over the area.
Obama doesn't want to appear to be working with the Assad government as he orders the bombing of ISIS sites in Syria. In so doing, he would violate his agreements with Sunni Saudi Arabia, which ultimately seeks Assad's overthrow due to his close ties with the Saudi kingdom's Islamic foe, Shia Iran.
In addition, Turkey has sought Assad's removal and has agreed, along with the U.S., to train and equip jihadist fighters such as the Free Syrian Army to join Syrian opposition forces seeking Assad's ouster.
Boots on the ground
Sources say the recent U.S. airstrikes against ISIS positions around Kobani in the Kurdish region of Syria have been largely ineffective, since the sites had been abandoned.
Kurdish expert Wayne White noted the White House has repeatedly emphasized the shortage of indigenous boots on the ground to capitalize on airstrikes by holding, surrounding and driving back ISIS.
"In this instance, a combative secular military force numbering in the tens of thousands has been left to fend for itself because of its tentative alliance of convenience with the Assad regime and the association of some of its cadres with terrorism, although a brand far less malignant than that of ISIS," he said. "And yet, this force has come to the aid of coalition forces twice."
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U.S. military experts agree ground troops eventually will be needed to mop up ISIS fighters who have begun to meld into the population as a result of the aerial bombings.
White said the U.S. and the West generally have had no meaningful contact with Syrian Kurdish forces, due to past attacks against Turkey, PKK attacks in Turkey and Europe, and the Kurdish alliance of convenience with Assad.
While the Kurds in Iraq are Sunni, as is ISIS, they have been fighting the jihadist group to prevent it from taking over the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, which includes oil-rich Kirkuk.
In Iraq, the U.S. has been bombing to thwart ISIS attempts to take over Kurdish installations.
Similarly, the Syrian Kurds have been battling ISIS in Syria and other Sunni jihadist militants that have morphed into ISIS.
However, the Kurds in Syria, as in Iraq, are close to the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has been designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and Turkey.
The PKK for years has sought refuge in Syria, northern Iraq and Iran to launch attacks in southern Turkey. The PKK's ultimate aim is to form an independent Kurdistan, comprising Kurdish areas of Turkey, Iran and Iraq.
Turks worried about Kurds more than ISIS
The Turks appear to be more concerned about the Kurds than ISIS, sources say, and have assisted ISIS in confronting the Kurds in Iraq and Syria.
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