I/IV. http://rt.com/news/197232-rt-survivors-isis-kobani/
'Even animals don't do it': Kobani siege survivors on ISIS brutality Published time: October 19, 2014 12:43 Edited time: October 20, 2014 11:33 Militant Islamist fighters travel in a vehicle as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. (Reuters/Stringer) A Kurdish activist and his wife, who have witnessed ISIS atrocities in Kobani for several months and documented some on photo and video, met RT's Murad Gazdiev to speak about what they've seen. On the ISIS front line with RT's correspondents Bazran Halil, a Kurdish rights activist and freelance journalist briefly crossed into Turkey with his wife from Kobani for an interview. His laptop is full of graphic videos, lending credence to rumors of the Islamic State's (IS, or ISIS, or ISIL) trademark brutality. "There was a man with Down Syndrome," he says. "He couldn't understand the situation, to flee, or to run away from the frontline. When ISIS arrived they beheaded him and took photos, shared them on social media and said 'we killed an atheist, a Kaffir'." Bazran alleges the IS militants used chemical weapons. To prove the case, he provided pictures from a Kobani morgue with bodies reportedly burnt by white phosphorous. No matter how small the injury, death is almost certain, according to the activist, who says the victims literally burn from the inside out once the chemical enters their blood stream Bazran Halil, a Kurdish rights activist and journalist, and his wife Raushan. Still from RT video Bazran Halil, a Kurdish rights activist and journalist, and his wife Raushan. Still from RT video Bazran's wife, Raushan, says it's horror not merely fear, which the IS inspires in Syrian. "For smoking, they chop your fingers off," she says. "Drinking is punished by jail. And if a woman is seen in the company of a man who is not her relative, she is stoned to death." Raushan also described the way the Islamic State trains new fighters. "In May, 9th year pupils went to Aleppo for examinations," she said. "The Jihadists kidnapped all the boys, confined them to a mosque and made them study Sharia Law. Those who did not learn the Koran quickly enough were shocked with electric cables." "Animals never do this," Bazran concludes. Having spent a week in Turkey, Bazran and his wife are now heading back to Syria to continue their journalist work in Kobani, which, despite having been retaken by Kurdish forces this week, is far from peace and stability. II/IV. http://complex.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/10/19/us_ramps_up_push_to_save_key_syrian_town?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=*Situation%20Report&utm_campaign=SitRep1020 The Complex U.S. Ramps Up Push to Save Key Syrian Town BY Kate Brannen OCTOBER 19, 2014 - 10:10 PM This story has been updated. U.S. aircraft delivered weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Kurdish fighters battling the Islamic State in the key Syrian-Turkish border town of Kobani on Sunday, further expanding Washington's efforts to save the town from being overrun, according to a U.S. official. U.S. Central Command confirmed the airdrops conducted by three C-130 aircraft Sunday night. "U.S. military forces conducted multiple airdrops tonight in the vicinity of Kobani, Syria to resupply Kurdish forces on the ground defending the city against ISIL," the military said in a statement. The supplies were not provided by the U.S., but instead came from other Kurdish forces outside of Kobani, the official told FP. U.S. aircraft merely facilitated the airdrops. American warplanes have been bombing Islamic State targets in and around the city for weeks, but the airdrops escalate that effort and mean that the U.S. is now facilitating direct assistance to the Kurdish fighters defending the city. "The aircraft delivered weapons, ammunition and medical supplies that were provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq and intended to enable continued resistance against ISIL's attempts to overtake Kobani," the military statement said. Of the 27 bundles of small arms, ammunition and medical supplies that were dropped, a "vast majority" were successfully delivered to Kurdish forces, a senior administration official told reporters Sunday night. President Barack Obama discussed the airdrops with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a phone call between the two leaders on Saturday night, the official said. According to a readout of the call provided by the White House, Obama called Erdogan "to discuss Syria, particularly the situation in Kobani, and steps that could be taken to counter ISIL advances." While Kobani could still fall, the new supplies should embolden the fighters on the ground and help them gain some ground, the official said. Senior administration officials, speaking to reporters Sunday night, would not rule out the possibility of sending more supplies to Kurdish forces inside Kobani in the future . The U.S. and partner aircraft have been bombing Islamic State targets in and around Kobani since Oct. 1. While the more that 135 strikes have helped the Syrian Kurds retake some territory in the town, they have been unable to halt the Islamic State's siege, which began mid-September. Late last week, a U.S. official told FP that Kobani would likely fall if the fighters on the ground were not resupplied. Helping the Kurdish fighters has been a sore point with Erdogan, who views Syria's Kurdish Democratic Union Party, known as the PYD, as a similar threat as the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has attacked Turkey for decades. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and the U.S. Meanwhile, the State Department announced Thursday that it had conducted talks with the PYD for the first time last weekend. And according to reports, Syrian Kurds on the ground in Kobani are providing the U.S. information about which Islamic State targets to bomb. On Friday, Gen. Lloyd Austin, head of U.S. Central Command, told reporters at the Pentagon that U.S. airstrikes in Kobani had increased, because the Islamic State "has made a decision to make Kobani [its]main effort." Austin also warned that "it's highly possible that Kobani may fall." He praised the resolve of the Kurdish fighters, saying there were "some very determined fighters up there that have done a yeoman's work in terms of standing their ground." Photo by Gokhan Sahin/Getty Images III/IV. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/10/20/Kurdish-fighters-in-Kobane-receive-weapon-supplies.html Turkey facilitates Peshmerga access to Kobane Kurdish people watch the Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, at sunset from the southeastern village of Mursitpinar, Sanliurfa province, on October 19, 2014. (AFP) By Al Arabiya News, Reuters and AFP Monday, 20 October 2014 Turkey on Monday said it was assisting Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters to cross its borders to join Syrian Kurdish forces battling militants to maintain control over the Syrian town of Kobane, Agence France-Presse reported. "We are assisting Peshmerga forces to cross into Kobane," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara, adding that talks on the issue were ongoing without giving further details. Syrian Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants near Kobane had received weapons, ammunition and medical supplies in airdrops conducted by U.S. military aircraft early Monday. The supplies, delivered in several airdrops by U.S. Air Force C-130, were provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq and were "intended to enable continued resistance against ISIL's attempts to overtake Kobane," the U.S. military said in a statement. The 135 U.S. air striked in addition to continues resistance against ISIS on the ground, had slowed the group's advances into the Kurdish-Syrian town killing hundreds of its fighters. "However, the security situation in Kobane remains fragile as ISIL continues to threaten the city and Kurdish forces continue to resist," the statement said, mentioning no new air strikes. The "resupply" of rebel fighters is the latest escalation in the U.S. effort to help local forces beat back the radical Sunni militant group in Syria after years of trying to avoid getting dragged into the more than three-year Syrian civil war. The United States began carrying out air strikes against ISIS targets in Iraq in August and about a month later started bombing the militant group in neighboring Syria, in part to prevent it from enjoying safe haven on Syrian territory. A spokesman for Kurdish forces fighting ISIS militants in Kobane later confirmed on his Twitter feed that a "large quantity of ammunition and weapons" had reached the town. U.S. officials, speaking in a conference call, described the weapons delivered as "small arms" but gave no details. The United States gave Turkey advance notice of its plans to deliver arms to the Syrian Kurds, a group Turkey views with deep distrust because of its links to Turkish Kurds who have fought a decades-long insurgency in which 40,000 people were killed. "President Obama spoke to Erdogan yesterday and was able to notify him of our intent to do this and the importance that we put on it," one senior U.S. official told reporters. "We understand the longstanding Turkish concern with the range of groups, including Kurdish groups, that they have been engaged in conflict with," he added. "However, our very strong belief is that both the United States and Turkey face a common enemy in ISIL and that we need to act on an urgent basis." Three U.S. C-130 transport aircraft dropped 27 bundles of weapons and medical supplies to the Syrian Kurds, said a second U.S. official, adding the planes left Syrian air space unharmed and that the majority of the bundles had reached their targets. Last Update: Monday, 20 October 2014 KSA 12:48 - GMT 09:48 IV. http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/191020141 Kobane's defenders ally with Syria's mainstream opposition By Jonathon Burch 12 hours ago The YPG has been the main protection force in Rojava. Photo: AFP-Getty Images. The YPG has been the main protection force in Rojava. Photo: AFP-Getty Images. ISTANBUL, Turkey - Syria's main Kurdish rebel group, the People's Protection Units (YPG), confirmed Sunday it was fighting alongside other rebel forces against Islamic State (ISIS) in the besieged town of Kobane and other Kurdish areas. It said it wanted to strengthen this alliance which was essential to defeating the jihadists. The announcement appeared to be the strongest rapprochement yet between the YPG and the Western- and Arab-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), who have largely been at odds throughout Syria's civil war and at times have even clashed with each other. The union could mark a significant milestone in the fight against ISIS which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq. "The resistance shown by us, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), and certain factions of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is a guarantee for defeating ISIS's terrorism in the region. The success of the revolution is subject to the progression of this relationship between all factions and forces of good in this country," the YPG said in a written statement. "We can also confirm that there is coordination between us and the important factions of the FSA in the northern countryside of Aleppo: Afrin, Kobane, and al-Jazira. Currently, there are factions and several battalions of the FSA fighting on our side against the ISIS terrorists," it said. There have already been reports of battlefield alliances. While it follows a similar joint statement by the YPG and FSA last month, Sunday's declaration appeared to go beyond the need to combat ISIS, indicating the YPG was committed to helping the whole country, not just Kurdish areas. "We as the YPG reaffirm that we will meet all of our responsibilities towards Rojava and Syria in general," it said, referring to the Kurdish name for the Kurdish region in northern Syria. "We will work to consolidate the concept of true partnership for the administration of this country and commensurate with the aspirations of the Syrian people with all its ethnic, religious and social classes," it said. The YPG and the FSA, a loose group of non-Islamist rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, have had an ambiguous relationship since the start of the war three-and-a-half years ago. The FSA has accused the YPG of being allied to Assad and fears its intentions are to carve out a separate Kurdish state. For its part, the YPG has been wary to support the mostly Arab FSA over concerns the Kurds will be ignored in any post-Assad government formed by political factions allied to the FSA. The mistrust has led to both sides fighting each other, most recently in 2013. The move will likely allay the United States, which revealed last week it had held direct talks with the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the political arm of the YPG. The Kurdish fighters said they were helping the U.S.-led coalition identify ISIS targets for air strikes in the largely Kurdish town of Kobane where the YPG has been battling the jihadists for more than a month. The U.S. military said on Sunday it had carried out 11 strikes with Saudi Arabia and the UAE near Kobane over the weekend, destroying 20 ISIS fighting positions, five vehicles and two buildings held by the militants. The air strikes have helped YPG fighters hold off a siege of the town, which sits hard on Turkey's border. However, Sunday saw some of the fiercest fighting inside Kobane, which is still surrounded by ISIS, the group also known as ISIL. The Islamist militants want to seize the town in order to consolidate their grip on a large swath of the Turkish border. The YPG announcement will also go some way to appease Turkey, which is at odds with the YPG and the PYD and has long called for them to join the main Syrian opposition. Ankara is opposed to the PYD because of its close links to a Kurdish militant group in Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been fighting the state for 30 years. Ankara has refused to intervene in Kobane, angering Kurds on both sides of the border. Despite this the PYD's co-leader, Salih Muslim, has held talks with Turkish officials in Turkey as recently as this month. Apart from joining the main Syrian opposition, Turkey wants the PYD to distance itself from the PKK and to relinquish any ties it says the group has with the Assad government, which Ankara sees as the main instigator of unrest in Syria and which it wants to see overthrown. While the PYD does not want Turkey's military to get involved in Kobane, it wants it to allow the free passage of weapons and fighters across its soil into the beleaguered town, a request Ankara has refused. On Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated that position. "There has been talk of arming the PYD to establish a front here against the Islamic State. For us, the PYD is the same as the PKK, it's a terrorist organisation," Erdogan was quoted as saying by local media. "It would be very, very wrong to expect us to openly say 'yes' to our NATO ally America giving this kind of support. To expect something like this from us is impossible." Turkey's refusal to help has sparked deadly riots across Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast and is threatening a fragile two-year peace process between Ankara and the PKK. It has also frustrated Washington, which wants Turkey to take a more active role in the coalition fighting ISIS. But despite the tension, the United States has attempted to dismiss any rift between the two NATO allies and on Sunday the White House said President Barack Obama had phoned Erdogan to discuss the situation in Kobane and "pledged to continue to work closely together to strengthen cooperation against ISIL". -- 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. 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