Baghdad - Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria have emerged as some of the most effective forces battling the Islamic State jihadist group in the year since IS declared a cross-border "caliphate".
Iraq's Kurds defended their autonomous region, gained control of a swathe of long-disputed territory during IS's sweeping offensive and retook areas they lost to the jihadists, coming out better than most in a war with no real winners.
In neighbouring Syria, Kurdish forces defended the town of Kobane against IS in a months-long battle, retook the key hub of Tal Abyad on the Turkish border this month and fought the jihadists in other areas.
International air support played a key role in the success of Kurdish forces in both countries.
The Kurds -- who are estimated to number 10-15 percent of Syria's population and 15-20 percent of Iraq's -- are fighting a common enemy, but they are distinct communities with their own agendas.
And while they have had successes, the Kurds have also paid a heavy price in lost lives, destroyed homes and economic troubles in both countries.
Thousands of Iraqi federal security personnel fled a brutally effective IS offensive last June, clearing the way for the Kurds to gain or solidify control over territory claimed by both them and Baghdad.
But IS drove Kurdish peshmerga forces back toward their regional capital Arbil in August in an offensive that might have ended in disaster if the US had not begun bombing the jihadists.
AFP
