The American Spectator

The YouTube video of rebels firing on Kurdish protesters in Ashrafiya can be easily be held up as damning enough evidence of rebel unpopularity among Kurdish residents, and be used to uphold the PYD’s image as protector of Syrian Kurds and their neutrality in the conflict between regime and rebels.

This perception of the PYD among Kurds can now be strengthened by news of an attack by rebels of the Northern Storm Brigade on Kurds (including Yezidis) in villages to the north of Aleppo. Since the perpetrators of these assaults are almost certainly of an Islamist orientation, any notion of Salaheddin-Nusra collaboration is only likely to stir up anger on the part of ordinary Kurds towards the Salaheddin Brigade and by implication (however tenuous) the KNC.

Further, the PYD has now negotiated a formal truce with the FSA to stop the fighting and end the Northern Storm Brigade’s attacks on Kurds, further enhancing its image as protector and representative of Kurdish interests in Syria.

In short, the PYD still appears to have the upper-hand over its rivals for influence among Kurds in Syria, and that advantage now seems to be reinforced by this recent debacle over Ashrafiya. It is probable that the PYD’s dominance will continue to be the status quo vis-à-vis the Kurdish situation in Syria for quite some time, mainly owing to its superior militia affiliates. The tensions between the PYD and other Kurdish factions are very much apparent but one should not automatically conclude that there will be an intra-Kurdish civil war, for all groups are undoubtedly mindful and wary of the experience in Iraqi Kurdistan after the region gained autonomy, when thousands died in a civil war between the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (the latter backed by the PKK). A more likely outcome is brinkmanship from time to time, with much mediation between factions on the part of the KRG.