60-year-old Kemal Simê, a member of the mobile YPG squads that strike fear into the hearts of ISIS gangs in the villages to the west of Kobanê, said: “The occupying gangs will die at our hands. We are protecting our land. They are pillaging invaders brought in from all sides. We are in the right and we will win.”

While ISIS gangs who launched their attacks on Kobanê on 15 September are receiving heavy blows from the YPG/YPJ resistance every day, as they flee or bring up reinforcements they are being finished off by YPG mobile teams. The YPG’s mobile teams are active all over Kobanê canton, and are restricting the movements of ISIS gangs in the villages to the west of Kobanê. 54 year-old Elî Remê and 60 year-old Kemal Simê, who walk dozens of kilometres every day, are en example to the young. They say: “Come and join us, we are here. Let’s resist together.”

‘We are protecting our land’

YPG member 54 year-old Elî Remê said they were defending their land, adding that they were in control of all the villages in the west from the Euphrates river to the villages of Zorava. Remê called on the young people to come and protect their villages, adding: “When the gang members bring in reinforcements or try to withdraw through our villages we wipe them out.” Remê added that they were protecting Kobanê by blocking roads leading to the city. He said that the gangs pillaged and burnt when they entered a village, adding: “But we are strong and they will all die at our hands.”

‘We will win’

Another YPG fighter on the Western front, 60 year-old Kemal Simê, proudly explains how he has been with the Freedom Movement since 1980, and worked with KCK Executive Council member Murat Karayılan. Simê said after resisting the gangs for a long time he had taken his children to Suruç, but after missing his homeland had returned and joined the YPG’s mobile teams. He added that Suruç was also Kurdish and that the people there had treated them very well, but that his own land was different.

He added: “Our young people should come and see what is happening in our villages. They should come and join us and together we will wipe out the gangs. We are strong, they cannot use our village roads. We are protecting our land whereas they are pillaging invaders. We are in the right and thus we will win.”

*Report and images by Murat ÇİFTÇİ, Çağdaş KAPLAN, İbrahim POLAT