ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The head of the Shiite Badr Organization, Hadi al-Amri, said Monday that Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters and its affiliates were spearheading the war against Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.
“PKK and Syrian Kurds are the spearhead in the fight against ISIS,” said Amri. “Turkey continues to assist ISIS,” he said.
His comments came as Turkey launched a crackdown on the outlawed PKK, with raids across the country and air strikes on the group’s Qandil Mountain base in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
Amri said that the Turkish crackdown was in response to Kurdish gains in Syria against ISIS near the Turkish border.
“Turkey has not changed its stance towards ISIS, and what happened over the previous days came days after Kurdish forces deployed on Turkey’s border. These actions by Turkey indicate the country’s unstoppable assistance for ISIS," Amri said.
He praised the role of Kurdish forces, especially the PKK-affiliated Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) fighters in battles against ISIS.
“They have achieved great victories against ISIS, and now they are in control of a vast majority of Kurdish territories in northern Syria,” according to Amri.
“The end of ISIS is not in Iraq but in Syria; they must be taken out there first, then Iraq," Amri said.
He claimed that, unless Iran helped Iraq militarily in the fight against ISIS, it and the Gulf Arab counties would fall to ISIS.
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