5 Things to Know About Fighting ISIS | Explorer

[Music] The Kurds are often described as the largest, the world's largest ethnic group that does not have a country of its own. Most people put the population of Kurds at about 30 million, and they're spread through at least four countries: Syria, Turkey, Iran, and [Music] Iraq.

There's one thing that the Kurds will often tell you when you travel the front lines, um, in near Isis, and it's that the peshmerga are there fighting against Isis not just for themselves, but for the world. Here they had this nation that was developing, and then suddenly Isis comes and tries to destroy their country, and they're left to defend it largely on their own.

The Kurds in Iraq have always wanted independence, and the clamor for this just seems to grow. The Kurds seem now to be in a position where, after they have done so much work fighting Isis, who can say that they should not have their own independence? How can you deny that reward for people who have fought and died against what is an enemy of us all?

You don't travel through the Middle East and find a lot of love for Israel, but the Kurds are one of the few exceptions to this. It's because they see in Israel and the United States a partnership that has worked in some ways, and particularly with Israel. They see a small country that's surrounded by enemies that has managed to hold its own, and the Kurds feel very much beset by enemies all around them.

Isis is both extremely destructive and dangerous for the Kurds, but it's also unified them in a way that they weren't previously. There's this enemy at the doorstep, and nothing galvanizes a people like a common enemy. One of the things that they've also been able to do is sort of solidify their own position in the Middle East because, right now, they're the only ones who are able to keep Isis at bay. [Music]