ANF spoke to Turkish citizen Bilal, who is using this code-name and asking to be mentioned anonymous, who himself was involved in the al-Qaeda linked al Nusra Front's attacks against Kurds in Rojava for three months until one month ago.

Bilal, who says that this code-name was given to him by the leader of a gang group, told about how he joined the Free Syrian Army (FSA) first and the Jabhat al-Nusra later.

Bilal, who originally comes from Bingöl, told that he was taking part in a team which was taking the aids collected in Turkey to the people in Aleppo and Tal Abyad through an Islamic international aid organization. “We were doing this for Allah. We were taking the aids such as food and medicine, collected in different parts of Turkey, to FSA in Tal Abyad and Aleppo, passing the Akçakale border gate with trucks. The aids we delivered were generally being distributed to Turkey-linked organizations and groups”, he said.

Bilal told that he had gone to Syria for the delivery and distribution of aids twice before he joined the Jabhat al-Nusra organization during his latest arrival late June.

Bilal remarked that he had gone to Serêkaniyê in a group of 23 people after two weeks of training with kalashnikov shooting in Tal Abyad.

“Passing the Ceylanpınar border gate at nighttime, we went to Serêkaniyê with a small lorry. The border, as well as the outside neighborhoods of Serêkaniyê was being controlled by al-Nusra and ISIS (Islamic state of Iraq and ash-sham) at that time. I was sent to Til Xelef without spending any time in the city. Among us were many non-Syrians, including those coming from Turkey, Arabs and Chechens”, he told.

Bilal said that they had also received weapon and bomb training in Til Xelef and Esfer Necar, and continued saying the followings; “We were speaking Kurdish, Turkish and Arabic with each other. There were also some other people, who were called 'emir' (leader) but those people were foreigners. Three of them were Turkish and said that they were retired soldiers. One of them was also an 'emir'. One other among them said he was a colonel and fought with PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) members in Hakkari. It was mainly these three who trained us on bombs and howitzers. The groups here received three-days training in two different periods”.

Bilal told that some other groups, those coming from Ceylanpınar (Urfa's district) were being deployed in border villages between Til Xelef and Tal Abyad. “They were focusing their plans not on Serêkaniyê, where al-Nusra was already active, but on entering Dirbêsiyê and Qamışlo. They were telling us that tens of thousands of others would join us for the jihad in the event that they seized the control of the border gates in Dirbêsiyê and Qamışlo. They were saying that they would have no more obstacles to take Damascus after defeating the 'unbelievers' in the Kurdish region”, Bilal said.

Bilal noted tat the Turkish colonel was talking about their need for bombs during his phone conservations. He said that these three Turkish soldiers were not always staying with them but frequently going to Turkey and Tal Abyad, dealing with the ammunition and food problems.

Bilal remarked that they had received food and ammunition through the border gate during the two months he stayed in Til Xelef, and through Ceylanpınar after YPG (People's Defense Units) took the control of the border gate.

“We were receiving food in abundance. All the materials sent to us were being conserved in refrigerators. They were saying that the materials were being sent through Urfa, by benevolent muslims supporting the jihad”, he added.

Bilal underlined that numerous people coming from different countries joined the gang groups through aid organizations and associations in solidarity with the 'jihad'. I heard about people who joined these groups for the jihad, in not only Til Xelef but also in the east and the south, he added.

Bilal pointed out that they had no problems about food and ammunition support until the Serêkaniyê border gate was closed, adding that; “Many trucks coming from inside and outside Serêkaniyê were bringing us materials including dozens of computers, televisions, tractors, blankets, carpets, expensive sofa suites and foods seized from shops. All these things -which they said were loots seized from unbelievers- were being stored at three separate barracks. The materials were later sent to Aleppo region”.

Bilal remarked that they started to have problems in the region after YPG launched an attack on 16 July and took the control of Serêkaniyê and the border gate on the 17th, clearing the Serekaniye city of al-Nusra and ISIS militants.

Bilal continued saying the followings; “Nobody troubled the attack and the clashes which were going on in the second day, because YPG had only three neighborhoods in Serêkaniyê. They were planning to enter Qamişlo and to take the border gate after taking these neighborhoods and clearing them of YPG fighters. However they suffered great losses in the YPG attack. The next day, YPG attacked the border gate and took its control following a couple hours of clashes. After that, we were sent from Esfer Necar to Til Xelef and Keşto region. However, all we did here was to stay in defense position for the groups failed to resist against YPG. After the control of the border gate was seized by YPG, we started to open fire on the border gate, using howitzers and antiaircraft weapons. I guess 100-200 members of the gang groups were killed there and they could take only 22 of the bodies. We were continuously opening fire on the border gate area and some of the bullets were falling in Ceylanpınar. Some were doing this deliberately. The leaders we called emir were continually firing with assault rifles on buildings in Ceylanpınar, targeting those close to the border gate”.

According to Bilal, the three retired Turkish soldiers and the 'emir's who trained them were saying that they were there for 'jihad', fought for Allah, and claiming that those resisting against them were not Kurds but Armenians and members of the PKK. “I was also there for jihad and I thought I was going to fight against Assad's regime's soldiers who I thought were unbelievers. However, the colonel was telling that they were PKK members with whom he had clashed in Hakkari before. He was telling that those people knew very well how to fight and warning us that we shouldn't clash with them at close range”, Bilal said.

Bilal remarked that the members of the gang groups had convinced them that the Assad's regime was going to fall before the autumn, and that the only obstacle preventing it was the Armenians supporting the Syrian president. Bilal told that “We were hearing the sound of the call to prayer very clearly in Serêkaniyê. When we asked the emirs why they gave the call to prayer if they were Armenians, they were saying us that this was because those unbelievers knew the jihad was near and that they were going to die soon. We were listening to the radio conversations of the other side. I understood what they were talking about because I knew Kurdish. I later saw that the people we were fighting against were neither Armenians nor unbelievers”.

Bilal said he later saw the fact that the gang groups in Til Xelef had nothing with jihad or fighting against the Assad regime. “They were sometimes detaining civilians outside Serêkaniyê, bringing them to their headquarters and introducing them to us as Armenians and unbelievers. After holding them for some time, they were releasing the civilians after noting their names. They also kidnapped civilians from villages outside Til Xelef. They took these people to somewhere else, I don't know the exact place, to question them. And I don't know what happens to those people after that time, they were perhaps released or killed”, he noted.

Bilal said that he had left the gang groups after he was wounded in an accidental explosion in mid August. He remarked that his injury was an excuse to leave the groups and their region, adding that; “I was not severely wounded and I could have stayed with them for some more time but I left Til Xelef one day later when they sent me to the hospital in Akçakale (Urfa's district) for the treatment of my foot. This was an opportunity I had been waiting for. After two days of treatment at Akçakale state hospital, where they made no record of the people under treatment, I went to a relative of mine living in Akçakale and left them”.