{"id":15085,"date":"2017-09-26T11:49:49","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T11:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/international\/?p=15085"},"modified":"2018-12-22T15:28:47","modified_gmt":"2018-12-22T15:28:47","slug":"the-kurdish-connection-israel-isis-and-u-s-efforts-to-destabilize-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/international\/the-kurdish-connection-israel-isis-and-u-s-efforts-to-destabilize-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kurdish Connection: Israel, ISIS And U.S. Efforts To Destabilize Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"
Syrian Kurds claim to be fighting against terror as they strive for autonomy, a goal that they have yet to achieve even after decades of effort. But their efforts are being co-opted by Western powers that are using them to achieve their own ends in the Middle East.<\/div>\n
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By\u00a0Sarah Abed\u00a0<\/a><\/span>\u00a0Mint Press News<\/a> July 14th, 2017\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
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SYRIA (Analysis)\u2013<\/b>\u00a0In Part I<\/i><\/a>\u00a0of independent analyst Sarah Abed\u2019s three-part analysis for MintPress News, Abed began exposing the modern-day Kurdish\/Israeli alliance that both parties have tried to keep hidden in order to avoid drawing the public\u2019s attention to their ultimate plan, as well as the U.S.\u2019 use of Kurdish factions in destabilizing the Middle East.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

The Kurds have engaged in such relationships in part because of internal divisions and disunity, which have also made it difficult to fulfill their goal of establishing a fully autonomous Kurdistan spanning over the four countries they currently occupy.<\/i><\/p>\n

We also examined the Syrian government\u2019s attempts at keeping the country united by addressing and implementing constitutional changes that benefit the Kurds \u2013 attempts that have still failed to convince separatist Kurds to abandon their goal of Balkanizing and illegally confiscating parts of Syria at the cost of the people who reside there.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read Part I here.<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Part II examines this topic in greater depth in hopes of raising awareness of this little-known but imperative part of the Syrian puzzle. Abed will analyze the Kurds\u2019 link to apartheid Israel and why the country has taken such a strong interest in the group, as well as the strange phenomenon of Western military veterans traveling to Syria to fight alongside the Kurds.<\/p>\n

The Kurdish link to Daesh (ISIS) will also be covered, as a number of Kurds have chosen to fight on their side. Kurdish alliances with armed terrorist groups in Syria \u2013 particularly Daesh \u2013 are very telling signs as to what extremes Kurds will go to in order to bring their ideological manifestation of an independent, autonomous Kurdistan into existence.<\/p>\n

Washington and Tel Aviv\u2019s geopolitical plans for dominating the Middle East can only be dismantled if the majority of citizens understand the intricate behind-the-scenes mechanisms that are driving their plan. Ultimately, their goal is not only to destabilize Iraq and Syria and divide them into statelets, but also to weaken Iran\u2019s global presence \u2013 objectives that are being pursued with the help of the Kurds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kurdish ties to Israel<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0Kurdish-Israeli relationship<\/a>\u00a0has matured significantly. \u00a0Since at least the 1960s, Israel has provided intermittent security assistance and military training to the Kurds. This served mostly as an anti-Saddam play \u2013 keeping him distracted as Israel fought two wars against coordinated Arab neighbors \u2013 but mutual understanding of their respective predicaments also bred an Israeli-Kurdish affinity. All signs point to this security cooperation continuing today. Israeli procurement of affordable Kurdish oil not only indicates a strengthening of economic ties, but also an Israeli lifeline to budget-starved Erbil that suggests a strategic bet on the Kurds in an evolving region.<\/p>\n

The people closest to the Jews from a genetic point of view may be the Kurds, according to the results of a\u00a0recent study by Hebrew University<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Kurds are allied with Syria\u2019s fiercest enemy \u2013 Israel \u2013 whose planned\u00a0Greater Israel project<\/a>\u00a0coincidentally aligns almost perfectly with the Kurds\u2019 plans for \u201cKurdistan.\u201d \u00a0In the\u00a0Oded Yinon plan,<\/a>\u00a0which is the plan for a \u201cGreater Israel,\u201d it states the imperative use of Kurds to help divide neighboring countries in order to aid in their plans for greater domination. Interestingly enough, Kurds brush this alliance off as being just another step in achieving their ultimate goal of creating an autonomous Kurdistan.<\/p>\n

Every major Kurdish political group<\/a>\u00a0in the region has longstanding ties to Israel. It\u2019s all linked to major ethnic violence against Arabs, Turkmens, Aramaeans, and Assyrians. From the PKK in Turkey to the PYD and YPG in Syria, PJAK in Iran to the most notorious of them all, the Barzani-Talabani mafia regime (KRG\/Peshmerga) in northern Iraq. Thus it should come as no surprise that\u00a0Erbil supplied Daesh (ISIS) with weaponry<\/a>\u00a0to weaken the Iraqi government in Baghdad. And when it becomes understood that Erbil is merely the front for Tel Aviv in Iraq, the scheme becomes clear.<\/p>\n

Israel has reportedly been providing the\u00a0KRG with weapons and training<\/a>\u00a0even prior its military encounters with Daesh. On the level of economic strategy, Israel granted critical support to the KRG by buying Kurdish oil in 2015 when no other country was willing to do so because of Baghdad\u2019s threat to sue. KRG Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami\u00a0even admitted to the arrangement<\/a>, saying that Kurdish oil was often funneled through Israel to avoid detection.<\/p>\n

In January 2012 the French newspaper\u00a0Le Figaro<\/i>\u00a0claimed<\/a>\u00a0that Israeli intelligence agents were recruiting and training Iranian dissidents in clandestine bases located in Iraq\u2019s Kurdish region. By aligning with the Kurds, Israel gains eyes and ears in Iran, Iraq, and Syria. A year later, the\u00a0Washington Post<\/i>\u00a0disclosed<\/a>\u00a0that Turkey had revealed to Iranian intelligence a network of Israeli spies working in Iran, including ten people believed to be Kurds who reportedly met with Mossad members in Turkey. This precarious relationship between Israel and Turkey persists today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Western veterans take up the Kurdish cause<\/h2>\n

The Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party, or PKK, and its Syrian spinoff, the YPG, are cult-like radical movements that intertwine Marxism, feminism, Leninism and Kurdish nationalism into a hodge-podge of ideology, drawing members through the extensive use of propaganda that appeals to these modes of thought. Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the PKK, took inspiration from American anarchist Murray Bookchin in creating his philosophy, which he calls \u201cDemocratic Confederalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PKK spin-off group YPG represents most of the SDF in Syria. With Western political support, they have gained popularity and garnered an impressive amount of support from many military veterans in the West, some of whom have left the comfort of their home countries to fight with the group. One of their most productive marketing tools has been to use young, attractive female fighters as the face of the guerrillas. During their fight against Daesh, the PKK has saturated the media with images of these young female \u201cfreedom fighters,\u201d using them as a marketing tool to take their cause from obscurity to fame.<\/p>\n

But what doesn\u2019t get reported is how the movement has carried out kidnappings and murder \u2013 not to mention its involvement in trafficking narcotics.<\/p>\n

Kurdish families are demanding that the PKK stop kidnapping minors. It started on April 23, the day Turkey marked its 91st National Sovereignty and Children\u2019s Day. While children celebrated the holiday in western Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) kidnapped 25 students between the ages of 14 and 16 on the east side of the country, in the Lice district of Diyarbakir.<\/p>\n

Although the PKK has kidnapped\u00a0more than 330 minors<\/a>\u00a0in the last six months, the Bockum family was the first in the region who put up a tent near their home to start a sit-in protest, challenging the PKK and demanding that it return their son. Sinan was returned to the family on May 4. Al-Monitor\u00a0reported this incident<\/a>\u00a0from the beginning\u00a0in great detail.<\/a><\/p>\n

As Bebyin Somuk reported in her article,\u00a0the PKK and PYD still kidnap children in Turkey and Syria<\/a>. She states: \u201cAs I previously\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0for Kebab and Camel, the PKK commits war crimes by recruiting children as soldiers. Some of the PKK militants that surrendered yesterday were also the PKK\u2019s child soldiers. The photos clearly show that these children are not more than sixteen years old. The Turkish army\u00a0released\u00a0<\/a>video of the 25 PKK militants surrendering in Nusaybin.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Related:\u00a0Turkey Backs Plan For Syrian Safe Zones \u2013 U.S. Responds By Arming Kurds<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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SouthFront reported on<\/a>\u00a0female PKK fighters who have killed Turkish soldiers. \u201cThe women fighters command of the Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK) have released a statement, claiming PKK female fighters killed 160 Turkish military servicemen in 2016. According to the statement, the women fighters command of the PKK carried out 115 operations against Turkish government forces in 2016. The group also vowed to \u2018proceed the struggle during the new year for a life of freedom and until victory is achieved.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0PKK is also killing Kurds<\/a>\u00a0under the guise of protecting their rights. \u201cSenior PKK leader Cemil Bay\u0131k, in an interview with the F\u0131rat News Agency (ANF) on Aug. 8, said, \u2018Our war will not be confined to the mountains like it was before. It will be spread everywhere without making a distinction between mountains, plains or cities. It will spread to the metropolises.\u2019 Terrorist Bay\u0131k\u2019s statement signaled that the PKK would take increasing aim against civilians, targeting civilian areas more than ever. And it is happening. Since July 15, the day when the G\u00fclenist terror cult, FET\u00d6, launched its failed military coup attempt to topple the democratically-elected government, the PKK perpetrated dozens of terrorist attacks, killing 21 civilians and injuring 319 others \u2013 most of them Kurdish citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0The Washington Institute<\/a>\u00a0\u201cOn November 18, FBI Director Robert Mueller met with senior Turkish officials to address U.S.-Turkish efforts targeting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), also known as Kongra-Gel. A press release from the U.S. embassy in Ankara following the meeting stressed that U.S. officials \u2018strongly support Turkey\u2019s efforts against the PKK terrorist organization\u2019 and highlighted the two countries\u2019 long history of working together in the fight against terrorism and transnational organized crime.<\/p>\n

\"Security<\/p>\n

These discussions are timely. Despite Ankara\u2019s recent bid to alleviate the Kurdish issue \u2014 a bid referred to as the \u2018democratic opening\u2019 \u2014 the PKK is one of a growing number of terrorist organizations with significant stakes in the international drug trade. In October, the U.S. Treasury Department added three PKK\/Kongra-Gel senior leaders to its list of foreign narcotics traffickers. The PKK, along with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), is one of only a few organizations worldwide designated by the U.S. government as both a terrorist organization and a significant foreign narcotics trafficker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drug smuggling is reported to be the main financial source of PKK terrorism, according to the organization International Strategic Research, whose detailed report can be seen\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Their exaggerated triumphs against Daesh have helped them evolve from a radical militia to an alleged regional power player. Have they been successful in fighting against Daesh in Syria? Yes \u2013 but while the Syrian Arab Army has been more effective, it does not receive a fraction of the praise or recognition that the PKK does.<\/p>\n

Pato Rincon, a U.S. military veteran, recently wrote about\u00a0his experience training with the YPG<\/a>\u00a0in Syria. Although initially interested in their desire for autonomy, he soon got to know a different side of the group:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile they are a direct ideological descendant of the Soviet Union, their take on Marxism has a much more nationalistic bent than that of their internationalist forebears. At their training camp that I attended, they constantly spoke of their right to a free and autonomous homeland\u2013which I could support. On the other hand, they ludicrously claimed that all surrounding cultures from Arab to Turk to Persian descended from Kurdish culture. One should find this odd, considering that the Kurds have never had such autonomy as that which they struggle for. All of this puffed-up nationalism masquerading as internationalism was easy to see through\u2026not only was their idea of Marxism fatuous, their version of feminism was even worse.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Accounts such as this will certainly not make it to mainstream media, as they do not fit the narrative that the Kurds and their sponsors promote.<\/p>\n

In another example of Western support for the YPG,\u00a0Joe Robinson<\/a>, an ex-soldier and UK national, recently returned to the UK after spending five months in Syria fighting with the group. He was detained and arrested by Greater Manchester Police officers on suspicion of terrorism offenses as soon as he returned. He joined the British military when he was 18 and toured Afghanistan with the Duke of Lancaster\u2019s Regiment in 2012.<\/p>\n

He left the UK when an arrest warrant was issued after he failed to appear in court. Robinson is pictured here in Syria with YPG fighters.<\/p>\n

\"Joe<\/p>\n

Robinson<\/a>\u00a0is on the far left, holding his weapon while his fellow YPG comrades are holding a Daesh flag. \u00a0The writing on the wall speaks volumes about the relationship between Israel, the Kurds and the United States.<\/p>\n

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SDF working with Daesh<\/b><\/h2>\n

The most evident contradiction to be noted is that the Kurds in the SDF are working with the U.S. through its so-called \u201cOperation Inherent Resolve,\u201d which is the official name for its anti-Daesh operations. But at the same time, the U.S.-led coalition, including Kurdish armed units, lets \u201cmilitants of the Islamic State terrorist group leave Raqqa instead of killing them,\u201d according to Sergey Surovikin, the commander of Russia\u2019s force grouping in Syria.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of eliminating terrorists guilty of killing hundreds and thousands of Syrian civilians, the\u00a0U.S.-led coalition together with the Democratic Forces<\/a>\u00a0enters into collusion with ringleaders of ISIL, who give up the settlements they had seized without fighting and head to the provinces where the Syrian government forces are active,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sputnik Arabic\u00a0<\/a>was able to talk to Husma Shaib, a Syrian expert on armed groups in Syria who explained why the SDF is comparable to the al-Nusra Front and what the actual aim of their operations in Syria is.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Syria, we regard these forces as unlawful military formations which operate outside of the legal environment. They are the same as terrorist units like al-Nusra Front and Daesh. The Syrian Democratic Forces do not coordinate their activities with the Syrian Army. We regard them as terrorists,\u201d Shaib told Sputnik.<\/p>\n

The SDF is\u00a0mostly comprised<\/a>\u00a0of the Kurdish YPG militia, which unanimously declared the \u201cfederalization\u201d of what they call \u201cRojava,\u201d or \u201cWestern Kurdistan,\u201d in March 2016.<\/p>\n

The leaders of the SDF announced that they\u2019ll try to annex the majority-Arab city of Raqqa if they manage to liberate it.<\/p>\n

The Kurds are\u00a0ethnically cleansing<\/a>\u00a0Arabs from Raqqa\u00a0en masse<\/i>\u00a0in order to pave the way for the city\u2019s annexation to their unilaterally declared \u201cFederation\u201d after its forthcoming capture.<\/p>\n

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Hostility against SAA forces<\/h2>\n

On June 18,\u00a0a U.S. jet shot down a Syrian Su-22 fighter-bomber<\/a>\u00a0near the city of Tabqa. The U.S.-led coalition\u00a0said the Syrian aircraft attacked SDF positions<\/a>, adding that the coalition downed the Syrian jet as part of \u201ccollective self-defense of coalition partnered forces,\u201d according to\u00a0Sputnik News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the SAA stated that they were, in fact, attacking Daesh, not the SDF. The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) then sent in a rescue mission to retrieve the downed pilot. Al Masdar News (AMN)\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that they encountered intense resistance from the SDF, which would imply a serious escalation between the two.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Syrian Army General Command<\/a>\u00a0responded with an official statement that the flagrant aggression undoubtedly affirms the US\u2019s real stance in support of terrorism which aims to affect the capability of the Syrian Arab Army- the only active force- along with its allies that practice its legitimate right in combating terrorism all over Syria.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attack stresses coordination between the US and ISIS, and it reveals the evil intentions of the US in administering terrorism and investing it to pass the US-Zionist project in the region.\u201d The statement added.<\/p>\n

It affirmed that such aggressions would not affect the Syrian Arab Army in its determination to continue the fight against ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations and to restore security and stability to all Syrian territories.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Sputnik that the U.S. strikes on SDF aircraft are aiding terrorists. \u201cIn the case of strikes [by U.S. forces on the aircraft and drones of the Syrian Armed Forces], we are dealing with an open complicity with the terrorists operating on Syrian soil,\u201d Ryabkov said.<\/p>\n

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CIA-armed Kurds in Syria<\/h2>\n

The U.S.-led coalition has on numerous occasions stated that it is working with the SDF to try to defeat Daesh in Syria. However, there have been numerous reports of U.S.-led airstrikes targeting Syrian civilians, military, and infrastructure. These deadly and avoidable mistakes clearly illustrate how the US-led coalition\u2019s presence in Syria has had a harmful impact on civilians.<\/p>\n

On June 26, the SDF\u00a0cut off water supplies to 1 million civilians in Aleppo.<\/a>\u00a0Some sources stated that this was out of spite, whereas others stated they were unaware of the reason(s) behind such a destructive and deliberate against innocent civilians.<\/p>\n

\"Well-armed<\/p>\n

On July 5,\u00a021st Century Wire<\/a>\u00a0reported on U.S. efforts to establish a greater military presence in Syria. \u201cThe U.S. is setting up its military bases in the territories that were liberated from Daesh by our fighters during the fight against terrorism,\u201d a senior SDF representative stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of U.S. military installations in Syria has increased to eight bases according to\u00a0recent reports<\/a>, and possibly nine according to one other\u00a0military analyst<\/a>,\u201d 21st Century Wire reported.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Syrian government<\/a>\u00a0considers separatist Kurds to be just as dangerous as Daesh and other terrorist groups in the country. Their plans to destabilize the country are more dangerous than those of Daesh, especially since the West provides them with moral support,\u00a0weapons<\/a>, training, financial aid, armed vehicles and even air support. \u201cWe\u2019ll be recovering [weapons] during the battle, repairing them. When they don\u2019t need certain things anymore, we\u2019ll replace those with something they do need,\u201d stated U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis in late June.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kurds selling weapons given to them from Germany to fight against Daesh<\/h2>\n

Reporters from German broadcasters NDR and WDR found several G3 assault rifles and a P1 pistol, all engraved with the initials \u201cBW\u201d for Bundeswehr \u2013 Germany\u2019s military \u2013 in the northern Iraqi cities of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah.<\/p>\n

\"German<\/p>\n

The weapons apparently\u00a0came from stocks that the German government delivered to the Kurdish autonomous government<\/a>\u00a0in northern Iraq. The weapons were intended to be used in the fight against the Daesh. Several members of Germany\u2019s Green and Left parties have long raised concerns in parliament that arms delivered to Peshmerga fighters could fall into the wrong hands.<\/p>\n

There have been several credible reports since the U.S.-led military alliance formed to help combat Daesh in Syria and Iraq of American-supplied weapons\u00a0falling into the hands of unallied militias<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0even Daesh itself<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has armed the Kurds and supported their efforts since helping them establish the Syrian Democratic Forces on Oct. 10, 2015. The U.S. needed to fund a group within Syria that was fighting against Daesh, but that was not as extremist as the Free Syrian Army, which was outed as being affiliated with al-Qaeda. The U.S. has stated that its main reason for being in Syria is to fight Daesh, but its actions have proved otherwise. Its true mission is to destabilize the country by assisting the Kurds through the SDF and other armed opposition forces in liberating land that can be used as a bargaining tool in future negotiations.<\/p>\n

Ron Paul explains why arming the Kurds was a dangerous idea:\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n