Were the Kurdish riots in Syria planned in Iraq?
Reports that the Kurdish riots in Syria this spring were coordinated, at least in part, by leaders in Iraq have been gathering credibility. Gary Gambill of the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin writes that the Kurdish riots that began in northeastern Syria and spread throughout the country were not spontaneous. The riots in mid-March were planned as part of an effort to undermine the Assad regime amid rising tensions with the United States. “Although fueled by popular frustration in the Kurdish community,” Gambill says, “the riots were a politically timed initiative to pressure the Assad regime in the face of heightened Syrian-U.S. tensions and Iraqi Kurdish political gains.” The report said the Syrian Kurds were organized by Kurdish leaders in neighboring Iraq who had been unhappy over Assad’s support for the regime of Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi Kurdish effort, led by Mustafa Barazani, began around 1999 when Assad’s father, Hafez, reconciled with Saddam and used Syria as a way-station
