Barzani raises the Kurdish stakes

Masoud Barzani, the President of the Iraqi Kurds, drew a new line yesterday,

Mr Barzani also said that he was increasingly convinced that the Turkish objective was not the PKK but Iraqi Kurdistan, which has achieved near-independence since 2003. He said he was convinced Turkey's claim that its target was the PKK "is only an excuse and the target is the Kurdistan region itself". When the KRG put its peshmerga (soldiers) on the border with Turkey to control the areas where the PKK has sought refuge, Turkish artillery had shelled them, he said.

Mr Barzani appears to believe there is no concession he could offer to Turkey which would defuse the crisis because he himself and the KRG are the true target of Ankara.

This is an obvious attempt to make the PKK cause the cause of all Kurds, but it's notable as it's coming from the top Kurdish official.

(Also in the conflict, the Turks claim to have "trapped" 100 Kurdish fighters inside Turkey.)