In the city of Qamishli, on Syria's border with Turkey, neither the forces of the Syrian regime nor the rebels of the Free Syrian Army are to be seen. But visitors say the Kurdish flag is very evident, and Kurdish fighters man checkpoints around the city. More are being trained in the Kurdish region of neighboring Iraq. Away from the epicenter of the battle for Syria, the Kurdish minority -- about 10% of the Syrian population -- has gained control of two areas. One is around Qamishli, which has a population of nearly 200,000; the other is north of Aleppo in towns like Afrin and Ayn al-'Arab.
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Kurdish fighters have gained control over areas of northern Syria
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The main Kurdish group, the PYD, has been seen as useful to the Assad regime
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It has close ties to the PKK, the group fighting in Turkey for Kurdish autonomy
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The Syrian Kurds' experience will influence other Kurdish groups, an analyst says
The Turkish army underlined that warning with a large exercise less than a mile from border villages now controlled by the @placeholder.