Jul 22, 2013

Fighting erupted on July 17 between jihadists affiliated with al-Qaeda and Kurdish fighters close to the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the province of Hassakeh in northern Syria. The fighting was sparked by an incident at a checkpoint of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jahbat al-Nusra in the mixed city of Ras al-Ain, where Arabs, Kurds, and Christians live, close to the Turkish border. The fighting was still taking place today, July 22.

It was most likely sparked by the fact that the Democratic Union Party (PYD) wants to form an interim government, while al-Qaeda affiliates such as Jahbat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham (ISIS) want to form an Islamic emirate in Syria. After fighting several groups such as Jahbat al-Nusra, ISIS and Harakat, Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiya — the leading faction of the Syrian Islamic Front — declared an operation to seize the oil-rich town of Rumeylan in Hassakeh province from the PYD.

Although many Kurdish activists and PYD rivals closer to Kurdish parties affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani in neighboring Iraq are critical of the PYD and fear their plans for Kurdish autonomy. They would prefer the PYD over an al-Qaeda-controlled Islamic emirate that is against an ethnic Kurdish identity.

Before the fighting started on July 17, Kurdish youth groups and PYD critics were angered by the death of six civilians allegedly shot by the People's Defense Units (YPG) at an anti-PYD demonstration in the border town of Amuda on June 27 — an action condemned by the US State Department.

Wladimir van Wilgenburg is a political analyst specializing in Kurdish politics. He has written extensively for Jamestown Foundation publications and other journals, such as the Near East Quarterly and the World Affairs Journal. He currently writes for the Kurdish newspaper Rudaw. On Twitter: @vvanwilgenburg