U.S.-backed Kurdish rebels join Arab groups in anti-IS alliance

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Kurdish militia that has been fighting Islamic State in Syria with help from U.S.-led air strikes has joined forces with a number of Arab groups in a new military alliance announced on Monday, October 12, Reuters reports.

The alliance calling itself the Democratic Forces of Syria includes the Kurdish YPG militia and Syrian Arab groups, some of which fought alongside it in a campaign that drove Islamic State from wide areas of northern Syria this year.

A Kurdish official said he hoped the alliance would garner more support from the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State.

It comes soon after the United States announced a shake-up of its support to Syrian rebels fighting IS, effectively ending its program to train fighters outside Syria and focusing instead on providing weapons to groups whose commanders have been U.S.-vetted.

The YPG has to date proved the most effective partner on the ground for U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State, taking large amounts of territory from the jihadists in northeast Syria this year.

The new alliance includes the YPG, various Arab groups including Jaysh al-Thuwwar (Army of Rebels), and an Assyrian Christian group.