Iraqi Kurdistan leader threatens to intervene in Syria to defend Kurds from al-Qaida fighters

BEIRUT – The president of Iraqi Kurdistan vowed Saturday to defend the large Kurdish population across the border in neighboring Syria from al-Qaida-linked fighters.

The comments from Massoud Barzani follow weeks of clashes in predominantly Kurdish parts of northeastern Syrian near the Iraqi border between Kurdish militias and Islamic extremist rebel factions that have killed dozens on both sides. The fighting in the oil-rich region has emerged as yet another layer in Syria's increasingly complex and bloody civil war.

In a statement posted on the Kurdistan Regional Government's official website, Barzani called for a delegation to visit Kurdish areas in Syria to verify the reports of fighting. If confirmed, then Iraqi Kurdistan "will make use of all its capabilities to defend the Kurdish women, children and citizens in western Kurdistan," he said.

Barzani offered no other details about how he would protect Syria's Kurds. Iraqi Kurdistan boasts a powerful militia known the peshmerga, which includes experienced and equipped fighters hardened by years of guerrilla warfare.

But Barzani seems unlikely to risk a direct military intervention. Such a move would likely trigger a furious reaction from Iraq's central government as well as neighboring Turkey, which has been wrestling with its own Kurdish insurgency for decades.

Iraqi Kurds control three provinces in the country's north. The largely autonomous region has all the trappings of an independent state, but still heavily relies on Iraq's central government to help meet its budget needs.

Tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds have found refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan since the Syrian conflict broke out in March 2011.

In Syria, Kurds are the largest ethnic minority, making up more than 10 percent of the country's 23 million people. They are centered in the poor northeastern regions of Hassakeh and Qamishli, wedged between the borders of Turkey and Iraq. There are also several predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods in the capital, Damascus, and Syria's largest city, Aleppo.

Long oppressed by President Bashar Assad's regime, Syria's Kurds now find themselves enjoying near autonomy in the northeast after Assad's forces pulled back, ceding de facto control to armed Kurdish fighters. Some Kurds openly call for an officially autonomous region in Syria similar to that of northern Iraq.

But clashes have erupted in the Kurdish-controlled areas with increasing frequency in recent months, pitting Kurdish militias against rebels with an Islamic bent. Following the killing of a prominent Kurdish leader late last month, a powerful Kurdish militia said it was mobilizing against the al-Qaida-linked rebels.

Rising tensions on the Arab-Kurdish front come on top of virulent sectarian hatreds between pro-rebel Sunnis and pro-regime Alawites and Shiites. Now in its third year, the Syrian conflict has killed more than 100,000 people, according to the United Nations.

Opposition activists said Saturday that government warplanes bombed a predominantly Sunni village in northwestern Syria, killing at least 20 people as government forces pushed to retake territory in the region along the Mediterranean coast.

The rebel capture last week of 11 villages in the regime stronghold of Latakia province along the coast was a symbolic blow to Assad, whose troops have otherwise been making gains in central Syria and around Damascus. Assad's forces are trying to retake those villages, which are predominantly populated by members of Assad's Alawite sect.

The mountainous region near the Mediterranean Sea is also home to villages populated by Sunni Muslims, who dominate the rebel ranks. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighter jets struck one Sunni village, Salma, late Friday, and that at least half of the dead were fighters.

The group reported heavy clashes between troops and rebels in the surrounding Jabal al-Akrad mountains on Saturday. It had no reports of casualties.

The state media said Saturday that government troops recaptured three of the 11 villages. Activists confirmed the fall of one village but said fighting was continuing in the other two.

Most of Latakia province has been under tight government control and comparatively peaceful during the conflict. But earlier this week, rebels including foreign fighters swept through a string of villages, causing civilians to flee. At least 60 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed in the rebel offensive, activists said. They say another 400 civilians, mostly Alawites, are missing and are presumed to be in rebel custody in the area.

The activists spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

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Yacoub reported from Baghdad.