CNN reports: The sudden, massive flood of refugees fleeing the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is unlike any other displacement in the 3½-year Syrian conflict.
As many as 200,000 people have left the area surrounding the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, in just four days as ISIS advances into the area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday. Most have gone into Turkey, the London-based monitoring group said.
Turkey’s semiofficial Anadolu news agency and the United Nations said 130,000 Syrian refugees have entered Turkey since Friday.
But the unprecedented surge that broke loose Friday has slowed, as Turkey reduced the number of open crossings from eight or nine to just two, said Ariane Rummery, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency. [Continue reading…]
The key is Turkey. Up until now Erdogan has never seen a Jihadhi group that he hasn’t liked. The “boots on the ground” that Washington needs to fight ISIS with will have to come from 30 million Kurds in the region.
But as with Erdo’s favorite Jihadhis like Al Nusra, Turkey is going to have to allow the Kurds to use its territory for the organization, arming, training, financing and logistical support they will need to create a small military to take ISIS on.
Of course Washington as always will have to find a way to finance the project. Both sides have been slow to react to ISIS.