I/II. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/inside-kobane-drug-crazed-isis-savages-4423619 Inside Kobane: Drug-crazed ISIS savages rape, slaughter and behead children
- Oct 11, 2014 23:03 <http://www.mirror.co.uk/by-date/11-10-2014> - By Vanessa Altin Horrific reality described by Kurds who have managed to flee into Turkey from Syrian border town where Islamist fanatics hold sway War children: Living as refugees in Turkey, these children have fled the fighting in Kobani - but their fathers are still there Thousands of people trapped in a besieged Syrian border town face genocide by drug-crazed Islamic State terrorists. <http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/isis> This is the horrific reality described by the Kurds who have managed to flee into Turkey from Kobane, where the barbaric fanatics hold sway, despite coalition air strikes. Terrified civilians are stuck in the town and in a no-man's land between the outskirts and the border, which is closed to them. Ekram Ahmet, 40, who fled Kobane with his wife and five children six days ago, told the Sunday People: <http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/sunday-people>"Many of the old people refuse to leave their sons to fight. "Many have nowhere to go and many more are trapped between the town and the Turkish border - out in the open -waiting for rescue or certain death. "IS are animals. They're not human. They have a bloodlust the like of which I've never seen - it's as if they enjoy killing. "They revel in cutting heads off - it's like their trademark." Refugee: Ekram Ahmet, 40, fled Kobane with his family after burying his neighbours' headless children In a chilling account of life in the killing zone, Ekram explained many IS supporters are drug-crazed as they fight and kill, exhorting their barbaric massacre in the name of Allah. "They are filthy, with straggly beards and long black nails. "They have lots of pills with them that they all keep taking. It seems to make them more crazy if anything. "They become agitated and excited, desperate to punish even children for the smallest thing." Locals believe pills found on dead IS soldiers are amphetamines, <http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/drugs> which fire up the fighters' greed for killing. Ekram added: "My 11-year-old son was dragged off a bus by IS. They found a copy of the Koran in his pocket that my wife had given him for luck. "They ripped it to pieces and threw it on the floor. Realising he was Kurdish, they pushed him into a line to be taken away and beheaded. "As the terrorists marched them off, they were distracted by incoming fire and my son seized his chance to run. "He didn't stop till he got home to find us burying the neighbours' family. We fled Kobane straight after that." Invasion: ISIS fighters inside the town of Kobane Engineer Ekram said IS, also known as Isis had been creeping towards Kobane for months. "They've been in outlying villages and set up roadblocks," he said. "They would stop cars and buses and kill any non-Muslims or Kurds. "I can speak Arabic and managed to persuade them to spare me - many others weren't so lucky. "We stayed as long as we could, hoping for help, but little came. Last week my neighbour, a university professor, asked me to help bury his sister, two brothers and son. "He was distraught as they had been beheaded and pleaded with me to help find their heads so they could be buried whole. "We searched as best we could but were told IS had taken them as trophies. "We buried the bodies and then I fled with my family to Turkey. As we crossed the border the Turkish soldiers jeered and insulted us. They called us 'stupid people' and 'donkeys'. They seem to hate us more than they hate IS." But Ekram warned Turkey to be careful what they wish for. "I know Turkey hates Kurds," he said. "But they could end up with IS as neighbours, which would be far worse. "Friends of mine in the Kurdish militia, YPG, had been firing on an IS position. They killed them all - or so they thought but when they checked, they found one badly injured, hit by seven bullets. "It was during the fast of Ramadan and he'd been fasting and begged the YPG to put him out of his misery so he could break his fast with the prophet Mohammed. "They offered to let one of their women kill him but IS believe that to be killed by a woman is shameful and would prevent entry to paradise. "The YPG told him he had no hope of reaching paradise and they wouldn't waste a bullet on him. "They said he could die slowly and take time to realise there was no place for him in paradise, he and all of them were going straight to hell." One young boy and his sister were stranded on the outskirts of Kobane five days ago when IS swept into town. He and his sister hid in terror but the terrorists discovered the young girl then raped and killed her. Fierce YPG fighters battled to retake the house and rescued the little boy who fell -sobbing into their arms. More than 150 children - from -babies to teenagers - are sheltering in the garden of council offices in the Turkish border town of Suruc. Filthy dirty, and sleeping outside on the floor, the children remained bright and resilient to their circumstances. Saved: A young Kurdish boy standing next to his sister's body after she was raped and murdered by ISIS Girls were playing babies with their real baby brothers and sisters and boys were playing catch with lumps of mud. They happily talked to me, wanting English children to know their plight. Rojdan, six, said: "It's very cold at night. It's too cold to sleep and the floor is hard. But the people gave us Turkish delight which was lovely." Alene, five, said: "I miss my daddy but he has to fight the bad people so we can go home." Duluvan, 13, added: "I haven't spoken to my dad for a long time. He's in Kobane fighting for our home. I pray for him - for all of our men but they need to kill all IS so we can -return home safely." Some have been living in this garden for a month and every day more arrive. Realising the desperate plight of these children, we asked them to raise their hand if their fathers were fighting in Kobane. One by one every hand went up. The children all attended the same school in Kobane - called Yermuk - and all said they miss it very much. They are desperate to return home but show the same defiance as their fathers. As we finished talking they all stood and raised their hands in the traditional -symbol of peace before chanting rousing Kurdish slogans, finishing off with a -chorus of their national anthem - -reducing the watching adults, including myself, to tears. Today a thick fog lay like a blanket over Kobane preventing anxious Kurds being able to see the town from the -border - but the sound of heavy arms and machine gun fire still filled the air. Terrifying: Smoke rises after strikes from the US-led coalition in Kobane According to Kurdish reporter Murat Ciftcfi, 42, Kurdish fighters mounted their best defence of the town. He said: "On Friday night groups of male YPG and women YPJ fighters -resisted a fierce onslaught by IS. "They are totally committed to fighting to the death to defend the town but they can't match IS for weapons and they are heavily outnumbered. "We have begged Turkey to open a safe corridor to allow the wounded and civilians to escape and to reinforce fighters in Kobane, but they refuse to help." Murat says Kurds welcome the air strikes and bombardment of IS positions.But he says that some are proving more effective than others. He added: "Kurds say Arab planes seem less inclined to engage the enemy, instead just dumping bombs on fields and flying back to their bases. Their involvement is seen as mere tokenism. "But the Kurds need real help and they need it now before IS wipe out all who remain in Kobane." US forces conducted six air strikes against IS militants near Kobane on Friday and Saturday, said the US Central Command. Additionally, the American military chiefs said they carried out three strikes with the Dutch against targets in Iraq near Tal Afar and Hit on Friday. US forces also revealed that they -"conducted multiple airdrops to resupply Iraqi security forces at the request of the Iraqi Government". Supplies of food, water and ammunition were dropped around Baiji, close to where IS forces recently shot down two Iraqi helicopters. View Gallery II. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29581728 11 October 2014 Last updated at 17:16 Kobane: Islamic State battles to encircle Syrian Kurds Quentin Sommerville says he can hear frequent explosions coming from the town The Kurdish defenders of the Syrian border town of Kobane have held back advancing Islamic State fighters, with the US supplying air support. The Kurds repulsed a pre-dawn attack and still control the town's border crossing point with Turkey. Correspondents say the crossing point is a vital supply and exit route. The Pentagon reports that US planes have been bombing IS targets to the north and south of Kobane since Friday. US and other aircraft from the international coalition also carried out air strikes on IS targets inside Iraq as well as dropping supplies to Iraqi government forces at Baiji, where Iraq's biggest oil refinery is located. In Iraq's Anbar province, officials reportedly made an urgent appeal for military help against IS. Haze and dust As the sounds of battle continued on Saturday, haze and dust obscured Kobane, making air strikes more difficult but not impossible, the BBC's Quentin Sommerville said in a tweet <https://twitter.com/sommervillebbc/status/520885103212642304> from the Syria-Turkey border. The Kurdish militiamen have pushed back the latest IS advance but the militants are being easily resupplied from the south and the east and are able to launch further attacks, our correspondent says. Amid the sound of gunfire, black plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the south and west of the town, another foreign journalist at the scene, Derek Henry Flood, tweeted <https://twitter.com/DerekHenryFlood/status/520919171732086784>. According to the Pentagon, the new US air strikes on IS targets at Kobane hit an IS fighting position, damaged a command and control facility, destroyed a staging building; struck two small units of fighters; and destroyed three lorries. Several hundred civilians are still believed to be in Kobane. UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has warned they could be massacred by IS if the town falls. Smoke rises over Kobane on Saturday as seen from the Turkish border The fresh gravestone of a Kurdish fighter buried near the Turkish town of Suruc, across from Kobane Turkish forces are ranged on the border but have not crossed An F/A-18C Hornet leaving the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush on Friday Tens of thousands of refugees have fled over the border into Turkey There have been protests across Europe in support of Kobane's Kurds, including here in Duesseldorf Images of jailed Turkish Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan could be seen at the rally in Duesseldorf Since the IS offensive against Kobane began in mid-September, some 500 people have been killed and up to 200,000 have fled across the border into Turkey. Mr de Mistura called on Turkey to allow Kurdish volunteers to cross into Syria with equipment "to be able to enter the city to contribute to a self-defence operation". [image: Targets hit by US-led air strikes in Iraq and Syria] Turkey has ranged its military forces on the border but has so far ruled out any ground operation on its own, and has refused to allow Kurds in Turkey to cross the border to fight. Accusing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of inaction, Kurdish refugees from Kobane told Reuters news agency they feared they would be unable to return to their homes. "If the United States helps us, we could return," said one. "If the United States is willing to help, not like Erdogan, we could return today." At least 20,000 Kurds living in Germany have marched in the city of Duesseldorf to highlight the threat to Kurds in Kobane. Air drops US and Dutch aircraft attacked IS targets near the towns of Tal Afar and Hit in northern Iraq, the Pentagon said in a statement <http://www.centcom.mil/en/news/articles/oct.-11-u.s.-military-conducts-airstrikes-against-isil-in-syria-and-iraq> . In the operation in the Baiji area, food, water and ammunition were dropped to Iraqi security forces. At least 14 people died in violence in Iraq on Saturday: four injured soldiers were killed when their ambulance was attacked in a "friendly fire" incident near Baquba while a suicide bomber killed at least seven people in a market in Meshahda, near Baghdad. In Anbar, the provincial council asked for US ground troops to help fight IS, the Dubai-based Iraqi TV channel Al-Sharqiyah reports. The vice-president of the council, Faleh al-Issawi, warned Anbar could "fall in 10 days". Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has repeatedly ruled out any foreign ground troops in Iraq. John Simpson on the IS front line with the Iraqi army IS fighters control large stretches of territory in Syria and Iraq. The group is known for its brutal tactics, including mass killings, abductions of members of religious and ethnic minorities, and the beheadings of soldiers and journalists. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
