Kurds make strategic gains in Iraq crisis

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 June 2014, 23:32 GMT]
While the recent crisis in Iraq created by activities of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has placed the US-trained Iraqi Army in a critical situation, the Kurds have achieved some significant militarily and politically strategic gains. While the Kurdish 'Peshmerga', the armed forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government of the northern part of Iraq, have beaten back heavily armed Islamist militants of the ISIS, they have simultaneously captured regions that the Iraqi government was unwilling to concede earlier. Recognizing the potential of the Kurdish advancements, Israel had advised the US on Thursday that Kurdistan was a "foregone conclusion".

Israeli experts have further said that Israel would be quick to recognize a Kurdish state should it emerge, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Turkey, which has its own problems with the PKK-led Kurdish resistance, has also reluctantly conveyed its support for Kurdistan gaining independence from Iraq.

The Kurds have also been defiant in stating to the pro-US Nouri al-Maliki government of Iraq that they would not step back on the territorial gains that they have made in this crisis.