Kurdish refugees watch in fear as Kobane threatened with new conflict

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurds who fled the northern Syria town of Kobane when the Islamic State (ISIS) attacked in 2014 are now watching in fear from Turkey as their hometown is threatened with another attack, this time by Syrian militia groups.

"I've been on the move for 11 years. We want to return to our country… The people of Kobane say our situation is bad. They are afraid," said Ahmed Hiseen, a refugee from Kobane who has lived in Turkey’s Sanliurfa, across the border from his home for nearly 11 years.

ISIS stormed Kobane in 2014 in one of the deadliest battles in Syria’s 13-year civil war that claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians and forced more than 400,000 people to flee to Turkey.

With strong backing from the global coalition against ISIS, Kurdish fighters managed to retake the city in January 2015, giving the jihadists their first major defeat on the battlefield.

Kobane is now facing the threat of another attack, this time from the Syrian National Army (SNA), a coalition of rebel groups supported by Turkey. 

The People's Defense Units (YPG) is a Kurdish force that makes up the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that are partnered with the global coalition to fight ISIS. Ankara considers these Kurdish fighters a national security threat. It accuses the YPG of being a Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been engaged in a 40-year-long conflict with the Turkish state.

SNA militias are currently attacking Tishreen Dam and Qere Qozaq bridge just south of Kobane. Local sources said Turkey has moved military equipment to the border in recent days, possibly in preparation for a massive operation.

Ankara has refused to negotiate a ceasefire and has rejected reports last week that the United States had mediated a temporary truce.

“Our preparations and measures in the fight against terrorism will continue until the PKK/YPG terrorist organization lays down its arms and the foreign fighters within it leave Syria,” Turkish Defense Ministry spokesperson Zeki Akturk said on Thursday.

While thousands of Syrian refugees are looking to return home now that the regime of Bashar al-Assad is gone, there is no similar hope for Kurds who fled Kobane.

"I am from Kobane, where I was subjected to a lot of cruelty. My wife died, my children are sick. I want [the situation] to improve, and we will return to our country," said Mahmoud Hamad Ali, a refugee living in Turkey’s Suruc city.

 

Rekar Aziz contributed to this report