Kurdish fighters continue to join Kobane battle

World Today

The U.S. commander in the Middle East said coalition airstrikes killed large numbers of ISIL fighters in the Syrian border town of Kobane, but said the town could still fall to the terrorists. Kurdish fighters also continue to join in the battle from neighboring Turkey. CCTV America’s Natalie Carney reports from the Turkey-Syria border.

Mehmet Kivik visits his brother’s grave regularly. His younger brother Ibrahim died fighting ISIL during its advance on Kobane. Ibrahim joined the Kurdish People’s Protection Unit, also known as the YPG, in August last year. While it is based in Syria, the YPG is an armed militia committed to protecting Kurdish inhabited areas. After eight months of training, he was killed in his first battle.

Many Kurds from Turkey and Syria don’t recognize the physical border between the two countries. Their ethnic connections are stronger than any geopolitical boundary, so the fight in Kobane is also a fight for Kurdish identity.

Since the ISIL assault on the northern Syrian town began a month ago, more than 160,000 Kurds have sought refuge in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast region. Despite the attempt by Turkish authorities to stop the flow of fighters across the border, hundreds of Kurds from Turkey continue to join in the fight.

For more about Kurdish fighters and especially female fighters, CCTV America interviewed Khazar Fatemi, a journalist and filmmaker with roots from Iran and Afghanistan. She just returned to Stockholm from Iraq after talking to some Kurdish fighters.