In the northern Syrian city of Kobanê, two people were injured in an attack by the Turkish army on Friday. According to the Kobanê clinic, two male health workers aged 25 and 30 were driving to a rescue mission near Newroz Square in the south-east of the city when their ambulance was targeted.

The vehicle was apparently only narrowly missed, but the two men were hit by shrapnel and taken to hospital. According to the hospital, the injuries were not life-threatening, but treatment in one case could be protracted.

In a Twitter post on Wednesday, the press spokesperson of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Ferhad Şamî, said: “This afternoon, a new Turkish aggression targeted the vicinity of Kobane city, using artillery and UAV shellings. On these days eight years ago, Kobane was the spearhead in the final defeat of ISIS, starting from Tal Abyad to Raqqa.”

Turkey has been attacking North-East Syria for years, enjoying international silence. The attacks are targeted specifically against representatives of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) structures, members of combat units as well as the civilian population. After the parliamentary and presidential elections last May, these attacks were intensified. Since 7 June, at least 21 people have been murdered by the Turkish army in northern and eastern Syria, most recently the co-chair of the Qamishlo Canton Council, her deputy and her driver, who was also a member of AANES.

Kobane, liberated after 134 days of relentless resistance

The strategic battle of Kobanê took place between 15 September 2014 and 26-27 January 2015, when it was liberated.

ISIS mercenaries launched the first attack on the city of Kobanê on the night between 14 and 15 September, 2014. The siege would last till 26-27 January 2015. Those months of battle would witness a defense of the values of humanity with an epic spirit of self-sacrifice which has gone down in history.

On 15 September morning, ISIS launched an attack on the southern front. Differently from the previous simultaneous attacks from all three fronts, ISIS gangs now deployed arms and militants in the southeastern and southwestern parts too, and started an offensive from five fronts.

As ISIS gangs launched this offensive with all their forces and weapons in Syria, it became clear that their aim was to ensure an entire occupation of Kobanê in a short time.

Mishtenur Hill was hit by heavy weapons and tanks, and clashes broke out between the gang groups that infiltrated the hill and the YPG/YPJ fighters. The Mishtenur Hill is sacred ground for the people of Kobanê, and it witnessed the sacred resistance of the YPG and YPJ fighters. The hill fell under ISIS control on October 5, after days of heroic resistance against heavy attacks on the hill.

After Miştenur, the gangs started to enter the Kaniya Kurda neighborhood from the east. To the west, the Izae Hill had fallen under gang control and the YPG/YPJ fighters had taken positions in the trenches dug by Til Sheir Hill and further. To the south, the gangs had reached the Martyr Dicle Cemetery, close to the city entrance.

In the first three months of the resistance, the YPG and YPJ fighters put up resistance, and it was time for the YPG/YPJ commanders and fighters to launch the process in Kaniya Kurda that would lead to declaring Kobanê the hell of ISIS. The launch happened in early December, in the form of the Kobanê Emancipation Operation.

The operation process had begun in Kobanê, the YPG and YPJ fighters had abandoned the defensive position after a long time and were gearing up for operation mode. The YPG/YPJ fighters cleared most of the city of gangs in a short time with this morale and enthusiasm, and in the end reached the Miştenur Hill. After Miştenur, the second large scale maneuver was the southern front operation. This operation cleared the gangs completely from this front.

On the third day of the operation, preparations were completed to deliver the final, fatal blow to ISIS gangs. The declaration of the city’s freedom would be in time for the anniversary of the canton declaration, January 27.

The Kaniya Kurda operation then started. Kobanê was to be declared free after Kaniya Kurda was taken. For more than four months, the fighters fought tooth and nail, finger on trigger at all times, through the cold, with no sleep, little food, insufficient ammunition. Marching towards death in a resistance almost defying the laws of nature, they fought against better weapons, better logistics, better numbers and inhumane methods.

The YPG and YPJ fighters rushed to the Kaniya Kurda Hill to put up a giant YPG flag. After YPJ Commander Meryem Kobanê said “We will declare to the whole world on the Kaniya Kurda hill they entered the city from that Kobanê is hell for ISIS,” her words were made into reality on the 134th day of the relentless resistance. The Kobanê resistance created a divide into “Before Kobanê” and “After Kobanê”. History was interrupted in Kobanê, and was rewritten.