KOBANE, Syria — In the Syrian Kurdish city
of
Kobane, gripped by fear of a Turkish offensive, Saleh Abdo Khalil passes an
open-air “museum” of buildings reduced to rubble.
اضافة اعلان
“Daesh destroyed these buildings,” the local baker
said.
That danger has passed, but now, he says: “Turkey
wants to destroy the rest of the city.”
Since Sunday, Turkey has carried out air strikes
against Kurdish controlled zones in north and northeastern Syria, and across
the border in Iraq.
Those raids, which started in Kobane, have killed 58
Kurdish fighters and Syrian soldiers as well as a Kurdish journalist, the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Ankara has threatened a ground offensive and made
clear that Kobane, also known as Ayn Al-Arab, would be a primary objective.
US-supported
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), now the
Kurds’ de facto army in the area, led the battle that dislodged Daesh fighters
from the last vestiges of their Syrian territory in 2019.
Years before, in 2015, Kurdish forces drove the
terrorists from Kobane, on the border with Turkey, and the city became a symbol
of their victory against Daesh.
To keep the memories of the combat alive, Kurdish
authorities erected a cordon around a group of destroyed buildings, burnt-out
vehicles, and missile remnants, dubbing the area the Kobane “museum”.
‘People don’t sleep at night’
While the football
World Cup in Qatar has captured some residents’ attention, tension can be read on their
faces.
Most fled the combat with Daesh before slowly
returning and rebuilding.
“We fought Daesh for the whole world, and today the
world closes its eyes and acts like an ostrich while Turkey bombs,” said the
baker Khalil, 42.
One week after a bombing in Istanbul on November 13
that killed six people and wounded 81, Ankara said it launched air strikes from
“70 planes and drones” against Kurdish bases in Iraq and Syria, starting with
Kobane.
Turkey blamed the Istanbul bombing on the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) — designated a terrorist group by the EU and US — and said
it was ordered from Kobane.
The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish
state since 1984, and Turkey alleges that Syrian Kurdish fighters are the
group’s allies.
Kurdish groups denied any involvement in the Ankara
blast.
Turkey then hit other areas including the SDF
bastion of Hasakeh province, in the northeast, and President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed Tuesday that Turkey would “soon” begin a ground operation.
“The situation in Kobane is bad. People don’t sleep
at night” out of fear that the city could be “bombed at any moment”, said Nabo
Jumaa Ramadan, who opened a minimart in Kobane after he returned from Lebanon
in 2019.
“Kobane is a symbol for the Kurds and she defeated
Daesh,” Ramadan said with pride.
Erdogan wants to “break the will of Kurds in the
city,” according to Ramadan.
“If Kobane falls, all Rojava will fall,” he
predicted, using the name Kurds in Syria give to the area they administer.
‘Under the bombs again’
The Kurds faced an earlier
Turkish incursion in 2019 when Ankara’s forces and its Syrian proxies grabbed a
swathe of land along the frontier.
Under a deal between Moscow and Ankara, Kurdish
forces which controlled nearly a third of Syria had to pull back to a line 30km
from the border.
The withdrawal included Kobane.
On Thursday despite fears of a new ground incursion,
there was no visible Kurdish military mobilization in the streets of Kobane,
AFP correspondents said.
A civilian vehicle traversed the city center,
calling residents through a loudspeaker to join a demonstration against
Turkey’s strikes.
Even when bombs aren’t falling, Turkey’s proximity
is hard to avoid, and its flags can be seen along the border from several
districts of Kobane.
Flags of Syria and
Russia — a major ally of Damascus
— are also visible, on a nearby hill with a post for government troops.
“We’re afraid of bombs. We are poor, without
possessions or land,” said Amina Youssef, 65, in front of her home.
“We only have this house. What does Turkey want? We
don’t know what to do.”
The trauma spans generations.
“We came back years ago and began to rebuild our
homes,” Sherwan Hami, 39, said, sheltering from rain inside a shop.
“The city and the markets prospered and people went back to
work,” he said. “But there’s a new war. We’re living under the bombs again.”
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