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Turkey’s attack on Syrian Kurds aims to deepen intra-Kurdish rift

The Christmas day attack on members of the Syrian Revolutionary Youth marks a new level of escalation in Ankara's ongoing military campaign against Kurdish groups linked to the US-supported autonomous administration in northeast Syria.

Syria Kurds
A 25-year-old Kurdish marksman stands atop a building as he looks at the destroyed Syrian town of Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab, on Jan. 30, 2015. — BULENT KILIC/AFP via Getty Images

What better day than Christmas to target Kurds in Syria as the western world tucks into turkey dinners and tunes out misery unfolding elsewhere across the globe? Could that have been what Turkish military planners were thinking when they unleashed an armed drone on a house full of youth activists in the town of Kobani on Dec. 25, killing three young women and two men?

The United States and European governments rarely say anything when Turkey selectively targets its perceived Kurdish enemies. But the attack on members of the Syrian Revolutionary Youth, or Ciwanen Soresger, as they are known in Kurdish, marks a new level of escalation in Turkey’s ongoing military campaign against Kurdish groups linked to the US-supported autonomous administration in northeast Syria; one that is squarely aimed at deepening divisions between the Kurds.

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