KOBANI, Syria (North Press) – Six years later, memories of war are still fresh in the minds of those who experienced the battle of the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, in northern Syria, against the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014, as the impacts of the war are still evidence of the scale of destruction in the region.
In September 2014, ISIS launched a massive offensive against the city of Kobani and was able to take over most of the surrounding villages.
It besieged the city from the east, west, and south, displacinh hundreds of thousands towards the border where most of them crossed into Turkey.
“ISIS members attacked our village, coming from the border,” said Darwish Bozan, from the village of Sarzori, eastern Kobani.
“At the time, 11 YPG fighters fortified the school building and decided to resist to the end despite their recognition that it was an unequal battle,” Bozan told North Press.
The school was besieged and bombarded, Bozan added, saying that ISIS was aiming to control all the bordering villages to besiege the city from all sides and abduct a number of civilians in an attempt to repeat what it had done in Sinjar (Shengal), northern Iraq.
Displacement and arrest
On the western fronts of Kobani, the battles pushed most of the residents to leave their villages after their homes were bombed by ISIS.
On September 19, Redwan Mouh, a resident of Kobani, was forced to flee towards the border.
“On that day, 10 YPG fighters lost their lives while trying to repel the advance of ISIS members who brought their tanks and heavy weapons,” Mouh said.
“The next day, a number of the villagers returned, thinking that the YPG fighters were still there, but they were surprised that ISIS controlled the village,” he added.
Eight villagers were captured, five of whom are still unaccounted for, Mouh told North Press.
The battles that took place between the YPG and ISIS left widespread destruction of civilians’ homes and properties.
During the intensification of the fighting inside the city, Mouh stayed watching as ISIS took over most of the surrounding villages.
At the time, the YPG fighters were besieged in al-Gamarek neighborhood put up a fierce resistance against ISIS.
Only 100 fighters
About 100 YPG fighters decided to fight until the end to defend the city and not surrender to ISIS.
Meanwhile, ISIS continued trying to take over the last neighborhood to reach the border crossing with Turkey, and the battles raged day and night.
Nadim al-Ahmad, a resident of Kobani, said the battles ended up street to street.
During the battles, ISIS members used car bombs and suicide bombers to take over the city.
Mouh recalls how ISIS members prepared a large car bomb filled with gas cylinders and detonated it near the border gate on one of the days of intense fighting.
Civilian participation
A number of civilians took part in the street war of Kobani, and many of them lost their lives while defending their city. They were forced to bury their bodies near the border gate using the doors of homes to cover their bodies, Mouh noted.
At the time, ISIS members posted on the Internet that they would hold the Eid al-Adha prayer in the mosques of Kobani, which prompted al-Ahmad and other civilians to hold the Eid al-Adha prayers and publish their photos to show the continued resistance of the fighters.
The YPG started achieving remarkable progress in confronting ISIS, especially after air support from the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
After the retreat of ISIS members, bodies were strewn about the city streets.
Al-Ahmad recalls one of the most painful scenes at the time, saying: “I saw one of the YPG fighters burying his sister who was fighting among the ranks of the YPJ defending Kobani.”
He said he heard the moving words of the fighter while burying his sister and spoke with his family on the phone about the details of her martyrdom and her burial near the border gate.
“The battle of Kobani left many terrible scenes and painful stories that the residents cannot forget,” he said.
A United Nations analysis of satellite images indicated that more than 3,000 buildings were destroyed or severely damaged as a result of the four months of fighting in Kobani.