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Intel: Turkey’s invasion of northeast Syria spurs Kurdish unity

Buckling to popular and US pressure, the main Syrian Kurdish opposition umbrella group known as the Kurdish National Council has agreed to reopen its offices in northeastern Syria.

Kurdish people carry flags as they celebrate the spring festival of Nowruz, in al-Darbasiyah town, on the Syrian-Turkish border, Syria March 21, 2017. REUTERS/Rodi Said - RC1F25CCC510
Kurdish people carry flags as they celebrate the spring festival of Nowruz in the Syrian town of al-Darbasiyah on the Syrian-Turkish border, March 21, 2017. — REUTERS/Rodi Said

Buckling to popular and US pressure, the main Syrian Kurdish opposition umbrella group known as the Kurdish National Council (KNC) has agreed to reopen its offices in northeastern Syria. The move is intended to pave the way for Kurdish unity in future negotiations with the Syrian regime. 

The group has historically been at odds with the left-leaning Democratic Union Party (PYD) that leads the US-protected autonomous administration in northeastern Syria. The KNC has long charged that it was barred from operating freely in the Kurdish-majority region with many of its officials either jailed or disappeared.

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