PHOTO: Kurdish troops approaching Menagh airbase in Aleppo Province


id=”kurds”>UPDATE 1545 GMT: A pro-Hezbollah journalist has declared in a series of tweets that pro-regime groups helped the Kurdish militia YPG take over the Menagh airbase and other areas, and that they are assisting the assault on the town of Azaz near the Turkish border:

Corresponding with a pro-regime blogger, Elijah Magnier said:

Pressed for details, Magnier said, “Let us say Russia were in the sky, some help with the long range artilleries and some special forces allies who were near by.”

Asked, “Is that the same for the advances they made in the prior days as well?”, Magnier replied, “Yes.”


Turkey has issued another warning to a leading Kurdish militia, as the Kurdish force captured an airbase in northwest Syria from rebels.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu repeated the claim on Thursday that the YPG, the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), is connected with the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK, which is listed as a “terrorist organization” by Ankara, the US, and the European Union.

“As I have said, the link between the YPG and the PKK is obvious. If the YPG threatens our security, then we will do what is necessary,” Davutoğlu told reporters on Thursday.

The statement came as the YPG moved into Menagh Airbase, just south of the town of Azaz near the Turkish border. A rebel commander, Zekeriya Karsli of the Levant Front, confirmed the loss and said, “The fall of Menagh airport has made the situation on the ground pretty grim.”

Kurdish forces moving on the base:

A tour of the base:

Kurdish forces have taken advantage of the regime-Iranian-Hezbollah offensive, made possible by intense Russian airstrikes, against rebels to seize territory in recent weeks. They have claimed the town of Deir Jamal on the border and surrounding villages.

Some Kurdish leaders have expressed the goal of linking the Afrin canton in northwest Syria with the Kobane and Cezire cantons in the northeast to establish a unified Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava).

Davutoğlu: “The PKK Cannot Earn Legitimacy”

Davutoğlu maintained that the PKK, which has carried out an armed campaign for independence for more than 30 years, has exploited the Syrian civil war: “Just like [the jihadist Jabhat al-Nusra], the PKK cannot earn legitimacy [this way].”

Despite its listing of the PKK as “terrorist”, the US has switched support from Syria’s rebels to Kurdish forces sine last October, with the supply of weapons, ammunition, and special forces. President Obama’s envoy Brett McGurk met Kurdish leaders in Kobane in northern Syria earlier this month.

The US repeated its backing of the PYD on Monday, angering Ankara.

On Thursday, Washington tried to ease the tension with State Department spokesman Mark Toner declaring:

Turkey is a NATO ally, a strong partner within the anti-Daesh [anti-Islamic State] coalition and we appreciate their support.

We coordinate closely with them across a variety of fronts and all lines of effort…We’re going to continue those discussions [on the PYD] moving forward, but I think no one should question our commitment to our alliance with Turkey.

McGurk told a Congressional committee that Turkish officials “are doing quite a lot” to seal the border:

This is having an impact. It is much harder for ISIL fighters to get into Syria now than it was even six months ago and once they’re in it is much harder for them to get out.