Syrian Kurds sign power-sharing deal to draw more support

Syrian Kurds sign power-sharing deal to draw more support.

jpost

Syrian Kurdish factions have signed a deal to share power and set their rivalries aside to capitalise on growing international support for their fight against Islamic State militants.

The agreement was reached late on Wednesday after nine days of talks and coincided with a decision by Iraqi Kurdistan to send its own peshmerga forces to relieve fellow Kurds in the Syrian town of Kobani, under attack by Islamic State (IS).

The planned deployment marks the semi-autonomous region's first military foray into Syria's war and is also part of a surge in support for the Kurds, whom the United States have been helping with airdrops and strikes.

Kurds have taken advantage of more than three years of civil war in Syria to carve out their own zone of influence in the north of the country, but have been beset by internal rivalries.