THE KURDISH CAUSE:

The al-Qaeda linked "Jabhat al-Nusra" (al-Nusra Front) in Syria, has been held responsible for having instigated a sectarian racist war against civilian Kurds in Syria's northern Kurdish region, the outcomes of which recently led to the massacre of hundreds of Kurdish women and children, "some of whom were raped and beheaded by jihadists", says Syrian opposition officials, witnesses and victims.

Human rights activists in Syria's Kurdish region have confirmed that 450 Kurdish civilians, "mostly women and children, were slaughtered indiscriminately inside their homes at the hands of jihadists of the al-Nusra Front in Tal Abyad, Tal Hassil and Tal A'ran areas of Syrian Kurdistan from July 28 - August 2, 2013." [...]

The attacks on civilian Kurds have emerged amid intense months-long violent clashes between al-Qaeda linked groups and the predominantly Kurdish popular militia in Syria, "Peoples Defense Units' (YPG)."

The YPG militia, majority members of which are female fighters, is now seen as the only capable military force that can confront al-Qaeda linked groups on one front, on the other, the Syrian army, across the Kurdish region.

It is estimated that YPG fighters number an estimated 50,000. Its female and male co-leaders claim that they are running, "a democratically elected popular militia comprising all the people of Syrian Kurdistan, including Assyrians, Armenian and Arabs to defend themselves from the catastrophes of the Syrian Civil War."

They also claim that they are involved in heavy clashes with both the Assad army and al-Qaeda groups like the al-Nusra Front in places like Aleppo, where YPG fighters defend the Kurdish neighbouthoods of Sheikh Maqsood and al-Ashrafia.

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