ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- Peshmerga fighting inside Kobane sent this video to Rudaw, showing them inside the city and firing mortars at Islamic State (ISIS) positions. They report good relations with the Democratic Unity Party (PYD) which governs Kobane, and their militia, the People’s Protection Units (YPG). Peshmerga crossed into Kobane with heavy weapons last Friday, and have since worked with YPG and 200 Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters by providing artillery cover. The YPG confirms that the cooperation has been successful thus far. On Tuesday, YPG Commander Mahmud Berxwedan told Firat News Agency that Peshmerga “have heavy weaponry and are using these weapons effectively. We are acting more like a single army than as two forces acting in a coordinated way. The Peshmerga are endeavouring to carry out what is asked of them in a self-sacrificing way.” He continued to say that the heavy weapons have been more effective outside the town, rather than inside Kobane’s neighborhoods where the combat is characterized by street to street, close range fighting. The artillery was more appropriate for a string of attacks on ISIS-controlled villages west of Kobane. “In the last week IS has suffered more losses than in the entire war,” Berxwedan added, a result both of the new Peshmerga and Free Syrian Army support—both arrived last week—and the high-casualty attacks launched in anticipation of their arrival. He also firmly denied rumors that the Syrian Kurds had resisted support from the FSA, although the YPG and FSA had disagreed in the past. Peshmerga troops have deployed to Syria even as they call for more support at home, asking international partners and Baghdad for more heavy weapons and helicopter cover. In a visit to Iraqi Kurdistan, the newly appointed Iraqi minister of defense, Khaled al-Obeidi, pledged more weapons and resources for Peshmerga fighters. “The Peshmerga are part of the Iraqi defense system and our support is with them. What the army has is for the Peshmerga, and what is required from the army is required from the Peshmerga,” he told reporters. While he made no specific mention of what weapons might be provided or when they might be delivered, he said that “when we have weapons, God willing, [the Peshmerga] will have their share like other Iraqi troops.”
