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Derik, Syria — As the civil war in Syria grinds on, one of the less-noticed developments has been the emergence of a de facto Kurdish autonomous area in the country’s northeast.

Stretching across a chain of towns and villages, from the border with Iraq to the disputed town of Sere Kaniyeh (Ras al-Ain in Arabic), this Kurdish-ruled region is seeking to carve out an enclave between regime and rebels.

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Its inhabitants are opposed to the Assad regime, which brutally suppressed their aspirations over the last decades. At the same time, they are also deeply suspicious of the ambitions and intentions of Turkish-backed Islamist rebels.

The Kurdish creation of an autonomous zone has not gone unnoticed by the Syrian rebels. A key objective of the largely Sunni rebellion is to maintain the country’s territorial integrity.

The result is an emerging civil war within a civil war.

Rebel groups, apparently backed by Turkey, have clashed with Kurdish fighters in Sere Kaniyeh. An uneasy ceasefire is now in force, but few expect the last word has been said on the matter.