Syrian Peshmerga to return home after training in Iraq

ERBIL, Iraq (AA) - Syrian Kurdish Peshmerga fighters will return to Syria after receiving training in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, a Kurdish politician said Tuesday.

"Syrian Peshmerga will return [to Syria] over the next six months under the protection of the international U.S.-led coalition," Nawaf Rashid, a representative of Syria’s Kurdistan Democratic Party, told Anadolu Agency.

U.S.-led coalition forces, he said, were ready to confront any obstacles put up in this regard by the PKK terrorist group.

According to Rashid, Syrian Peshmerga forces hope to eventually increase their numbers to a total of 10,000 fighters.

To this end, he said, Peshmerga officials had already opened a recruitment agency with a view to enlisting fresh recruits.

Drawn up largely of forces affiliated with the Syrian National Council, Syrian Peshmerga forces operate under the umbrella of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.

Syrian Peshmerga forces consist largely of Syrian Kurds who have fled their war-battered country in recent years to northern Iraq’s Kurdish region.

For the past four years, however, Syrian Peshmerga have been prevented from returning to their home country by the PKK terrorist group.