ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – It has become imperative for the Kurds to form a joint force of Peshmerga troops and guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party to counter the threat of the Islamic State (ISIS), the PKK’s umbrella organization said.
Peshmerga forces and PKK-affiliated guerrillas have been fighting side-by-side on various fronts in the Kurdistan Region and in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) for the past several months.
The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), which controls all of the groups associated with the powerful PKK, said a joint force has “become a must.”
"The joint struggle waged by the guerrilla and Peshmerga forces against ISIS fascism in both Kobane and Sinjar (Shingal), as well as many other places in South Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan) has brought hope and trust among the Kurdish people, as well as for the oppressed peoples and communities in the region,” said a KCK statement quoted by the pro-PKK firatnews.
“Going beyond being a need it has now become a must,” it said about a joint Kurdish force.
The statement warned that ISIS was trying to reach Erbil with new attacks near the Kurdish capital.
“ISIS gangs that were forced to retreat and failed to reach their goal in the face of the resistance by guerrilla and Peshmerga forces in Kobane and Sinjar, intend now to make a new move on Erbil by launching a new wave of attacks” on the Gwer and Makhmur frontlines, less than 50 kilometers away.
ISIS fighters killed 24 Kurdish security forces in a surprise attack on Gwer last Saturday, prompting the Kurdish parliament to summon the Peshmerga minister to explain.
