KOBANI, Syria — The men and women of Kobani call one another heval — Kurdish for “comrade” — and fight with revolutionary conviction, vowing to liberate what they regard as Kurdish land from Islamic State group militants. Get The Times of Israels Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign up! Amid the wasteland and destroyed buildings, a sense of camaraderie has developed among the town’s defenders who have for more than two months doggedly fought off the advances by the extremists. Often, members of the same family can be found on the front lines. Nineteen-year-old Shida’s father was a fighter before her. After he was killed, she gave up hopes of becoming an artist and decided she must follow in his footsteps to honor his example. She says her mother supports her decision. One of her six brothers is also fighting; the rest of her siblings are living in Turkey. “I will not allow the enemy to take away my land and its soil,” she said. “I will not leave my land.” An exclusive report shot by videojournalist Jake Simkin who spent a week inside Kobani late last month offered a rare, in-depth glimpse of the men and women fighting to expel the IS extremists from Kobani, a predominantly Kurdish town in northern Syria by the Turkish border. A female Kurdish fighter takes aim in Kobani, Syria, Wednesday, November 19, 2014 (photo credit: AP/Jake Simkin)Backed by small numbers of Iraqi peshmerga forces and Free Syrian Army rebels, the Kurdish fighters, whose political founders espouse a firm left-wing ideology, are locked in fierce battles to push back the Islamic State group, Read more: Inside Kobani, Kurds doggedly face Islamic State | The Times of Israel timesofisrael/inside-
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 14:17:25 +0000
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