The People’s Protection Forces (YPG) have formed a new Arab battalion in a bid to recruit more fighters for the organisation.
The Syrian armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the YPG is recruiting more Arabs to address the mass-immigration of local Kurds, and the lack of fighters.
In Tel Tamr, the first YPG battalion was formed with the Sharabiya tribe contributing 26 fighters. The unit is named after commander Sores Xinis, who was killed on 16th April in operations to capture villages in the province of Hasakah, reports the Kurdish news agency Hawar news.
The YPG is already working with the Shammar tribe and appointed Hamidi Daham al-Hadi, a tribal leader, as the governor of the canton administration in Cizere in July 2014.
The YPG have also visited members of the anti-Kurdish Bagara tribe, and Arab tribal leaders have promised members of their tribe will join the YPG.
The YPG and Asayish have attempted to recruit more local Arabs in recently captured areas in Tel Brak, Tel Hamis, Tel Tamr, and Tel Ebyad, including members of the Baggara and Sharabiya tribes.
The YPG also coordinates with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in Serikaniye, Kobani and Tel Abyad through the Euphrates Volcano joint operations room set up in September 2014. Both the FSA and YPG jointly coordinated the liberation of the Kurdish city of Kobani from militants of the Islamic State.
basnews.com
