By Sherine Tadros, Middle East Correspondent
We met Abu Ibrahim, a Free Syrian Army (FSA) Commander, and his two friends in a coffee shop in Urfa, Southern Turkey.
They had just returned from the Syrian border town of Kobane, where he told us the FSA had joined forces with Kurdish militias to fight the group calling themselves Islamic State (IS).
It was an uneasy alliance with the Kurds, Abu Ibrahim told us, but they had little choice - they had to unite against their common enemy and help defend the town.
Abu Ibrahim says he left Kobane to help carry injured fighters to hospitals in Turkey.
He and his two friends - an activist and a fighter - say they plan to smuggle back in to Kobane imminently.
They are all originally from Eastern Syria but were forced out of their towns by IS militants.
They made it to Kobane a few weeks ago but admit they are now running out of ammunition.
"Turkey needs to open the border for us to get ammunition, because now we are trapped between Turkey and IS.
"I was smuggled into Turkey illegally and I will go back the same way."
He continued: "If things stay the same way, frankly we'll have no other option but to fight with knives.
"There's no way to bring in weapons ... we would rather die than leave our land."
Abu Ibrahim also says IS has around 5,000 fighters in Kobane right now and admits his forces and the Kurds are less than half of that.
Abu El Majed has been fighting in Kobane against IS for months and says they are not only outnumbered but also outgunned.
"We have RPGs, machine guns, light weapons like Kalishnikovs ... and that's what we're using against IS who have tanks, canons, heavy weapons," he explained.
For the past few days, US- led airstrikes have focused on hitting the outskirts of Kobane, but the fighters say the strikes are having almost no effect because they're not targeting the IS front line.
Abu Jarrah is an FSA activist who says he watched the coalition strikes from a hilltop.
"I could see IS positions clearly, they had their flags raised, they weren't hiding.
"But the jets would hit a kilometre or two away from the target," he told us, throwing his hands up in disbelief
For these men and thousands like them from the FSA, Kobane is the last hope.
They've been driven out of towns from Eastern Syria all the way to the Turkish border.
If they lose this battle with IS, they'll have nowhere else to go.
"I'm prepared to fight until the last drop of my blood. I know if I am killed in Kobane, that's it. I can't live in Turkey. So we will fight with everything we have," said Abu Majed.
But that may not be enough.
US and Arab air power in Syria is not stopping the advance of the militants, while those fighting IS on the ground are being defeated and slowly driven out of their own country.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Airstrikes Missing IS Front Line, Say Fighters
Dengan url
http://usiabelajarudin.blogspot.com/2014/10/airstrikes-missing-is-front-line-say.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Airstrikes Missing IS Front Line, Say Fighters
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Airstrikes Missing IS Front Line, Say Fighters
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar