ASIA/SYRIA - Kurdish militants attack a checkpoint controlled by Christian self-defense forces

Tuesday, 12 January 2016 sectaniarism  

Qamishli (Agenzia Fides) - Kurdish militiamen of the YPG (Yekineyen Parastina Gel, protection popular units, linked to the PKK) yesterday attacked by surprise a checkpoint in the Governorate of Qamishli in northeastern Syria, which was presided by men belonging to the militia of the self-defense Sootoro, formed mainly of Syrian and Assyrian Christians who act in coordination with the Syrian government army. The Kurdish attack provoked a firefight, which lasted an hour, during which - according to reports from the Assyrian International News Agency - killed the Assyrian militant David Gabriel, and three Kurdish soldiers were injured. According to other sources, the three Kurdish soldiers may have also died.
Kurdish militias had already tried to occupy the checkpoint controlled by militia of Sootoro several times, but so far attempts never degenerated into direct armed confrontation.
The story heightens suspicions and tensions which for months has marked the relationships between the militias which refer to the various components of the ethnic religious in the area, all theoretically united by the fight against the jihadists of the Islamic State (Daesh). On December 20, three attacks against restaurants in Qamishli belonging to Assyrian Christians had killed 14 people. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 12/01/2016)


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