The cover of this week's Der Spiegel has been reserved for the PKK's fight against ISIS. The German weekly news magazine has published an article outlining the significance of the PKK's shifting position, both regionally and globally, in the newly establishing dynamics of the Middle East.

The cover headline of the magazine is "Alone against terror", implying that the PKK is being left alone in the war against the ISIS terror in both Iraqi and Syrian Kurdistan. The sub-heading is even clearer, "ISIS' advance, and the lonely war of the Kurds". The PKK had rushed down from the Qandil mountain range to defend the Kurds of South Kurdistan early in the Summer, when the ISIS attacked the towns of Makhmour, Sinjar and Kirkuk. The ISIS surge was halted and even pushed back in places like Makhmour, where the KRG President Massoud Barzani visited and thanked the PKK fighters for their efforts.

In Syrian Kurdistan too, the Kurds were fighting ISIS long before it was acknowledged by the West (its governments and media alike). The Kurds have successfully been defending their territories from ISIS, and have even cleared several regions from them.