Kurdish push in Iraq, Syria prompts Sunni fears
The Iraqi Kurds' offensive against Islamic militants in mainly Arab areas outside their autonomous region in northern Iraq is being applauded by Western powers relieved at jihadist setbacks. But analysts worry that the advances hold serious risks of undermining U.S. strategy to coax Sunni Arab tribes to join the battle against the Islamic State. They […]Jamie Dettmer writes for Voice of America:
The Iraqi Kurds' offensive against Islamic militants in mainly Arab areas outside their autonomous region in northern Iraq is being applauded by Western powers relieved at jihadist setbacks. But analysts worry that the advances hold serious risks of undermining U.S. strategy to coax Sunni Arab tribes to join the battle against the Islamic State.
They say the seeds of future cycles of sub-national conflicts are being sown by current hostilities and roiling of sectarian and ethnic fault lines. Few analysts and locals believe the sectarian map across the region can be returned to how it was before the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad triggered wider fighting among religious communities. That provided the opening for al-Qaida and rival Islamic State, also known as ISIS, to exploit the violence for their own purposes.
