Significant Defeat for Islamic State at Kobani

There is more to the headline "Turkey to Let Iraqi Kurds Cross to Syria to Fight ISIS" than meets the eye. Less a change of heart or the result of concessions won from the United States, it is Turkey acknowledging that the Kurdish People's Protection Units, the YPG, have won the critical battle for Kobani.

The Turks are not allowing PKK-affiliated fighters transit to the battle zone; rather, it is the Kurdish pesh merga, with whom Ankara has cordial relations. As Kareem Fahim and Karam Shoumali report,

The decision to permit fighters aligned with different Iraqi Kurdish factions — groups that are aligned with Turkey — to join the battle in Kobani allows Mr. Erdogan to maintain his stance against the P.K.K. while addressing some of the criticism of his policy.

“Opening a passage for the pesh merga creates the impression that Turkey has changed its stance, and is on board with the coalition against ISIS,” said Halil M. Karaveli, an expert on Turkey and a senior fellow at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute in Stockholm. “But this move is actually in Turkey’s own interests.” Mr. Karaveli said the pesh merga would counterbalance the Kurdish groups in Kobani that Turkey opposes.

The U.S. decision to resupply the YPG with arms (supplied by Iraqi Kurdistan), including antitank weapons, and ammunition by means of airdrop seems to have forced Erdogan's hand. Islamic State fighters have been pushed back and, in a sign of losing tactical advantage, have resorted to car bombings and torching homes.

This is a significant defeat for ISIS. Jihadis were massed along with APCs and tanks to take the town, which, contrary to initial Obama administration claims that the area was of little strategic value, was of utmost importance to the caliphate (for the reasons why, see Carl Drott's "What is at Stake in Kobani"). Now, the People's Protection Units, bolstered by the pesh merga, can go on the offensive, pushing east against the jihadis.

A senior Pentagon official said on Monday, speaking on the condition of anonymity, that “it will be a significant change to be able to have a free flow of fighters going into Kobani.” 

A Kurdish defense official in Kobani, Ismet Sheikh Hassan said he had not been given any information about when the pesh merga would arrive. He welcomed the influx, while asserting that the Kurdish fighters already in the city — members of the People’s Protection Forces, the Y.P.G. — were not desperate for more fighters. 

“We are short on ammunition and weapons,” he said “not on human power.” 

But Mohamed Arif Ali, a doctor working in Kobani, said that the arrival of even a few pesh merga fighters was symbolically important, and would bolster Kurdish unity. “It means a lot to the civilians and fighters,” he said. “They are not left alone facing ISIS.”