Battle of Kobanê

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Battle of Kobanê
Situation at the outset of the battle for Kobanê in mid-September 2014 area controlled by Kurds area controlled by IS militias area controlled by Syrian rebels
Starting point for the battle for Kobanê in
mid-September 2014
  • area controlled by Kurds
  • Area controlled by the IS militia
  • area controlled by Syrian rebels
    • date September 15, 2014 to January 26, 2015
    place Aleppo Governorate , Syria
    output Victory of the anti-IS coalition
    Parties to the conflict

    Flag of Rojava.svgRojava

    Allies:

    Air strikes by:

    Replenishment:

    Flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant2.svg Islamic State

    Commander

    Esmat al-Sheikh
    Chairman of the Defense Council of Kobanê
    Ferhat Abdullah Commander of the Peshmerga
    Nalin Afrin YPJ
    Mahmud Barchodan YPG
    Abu Laiths
    Alwiyāʾ Fajr al-Ḥurriyya

    Abu Omar al-Shishani
    military commander for the conquered areas in Syria
    Abu Khattab al-Kurdi
    Kobanê
    Abu Mohammed al-Amriki
    Kobanê

    Troop strength
    5000 Kurdish fighters

    400 FSA fighters
    450 Peshmerga

    		7000 fighters

    30 to 50 main battle tanks: M1 Abrams and T-72
    figures without the repeated reinforcements

    losses

    at least 754 dead, 541 Kurdish combatants and allies
    213 civilians

    at least 1,325 dead

    At the Battle of Kobanê (also known as the Battle of Kobanê ; alternatively for " Kobanê " are also "Kobanî" and Ain al-Arab in Arabic   ) units of the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS) attacked the Syrian-Kurdish on September 15, 2014 Canton of Kobanê in the de facto self-governing region of Rojava since the end of 2013 . The area around Kobanê, which was under Kurdish control at that time, consisted of large parts of the Syrian district of Ain al-Arab in the Aleppo governorate and small parts of the Tall Abyad district in the ar-Raqqa governorate . The main attacks came from the west ( Jarābulus ), south ( Sarrin ) and the east ( Tall Abyad ). Within the first three weeks, the attackers were able to bring the canton under their control and encircle the capital Kobanê . The predominantly Kurdish populated city on the border between Syria and Turkey was defended by Kurdish militias such as the Syrian People's Defense Units (YPG). The Hêzên Parastina Gel (HPG, part of the Kurdish PKK ) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) are allied with the Kurdish units and may have been involved in the fighting. The new alliance was named Burkan El-Firat . The border town is of great importance for the supplies and logistics of IS. If the IS militia succeeded in military action, a massacre of the Kurds in Kobanê was feared. Since the beginning of the battle, most of the population has been evacuated to Turkey. Up to 300,000 refugees are said to have crossed the border with Turkey. The city has been exempt since February 2015.

    course

    Embracing

    Shifts in the front line during the Battle of Kobanê
  • Front line in March 2014
  • Front line on September 18, 2015
  • Front line on September 21, 2015
  • Front line on September 24, 2015

    • The organization "Islamic State" tried for a year to take the city, but repeatedly failed because of the People's Defense Units (YPG). By mid-2014, the number of residents had increased from 54,000 to over 100,000 due to the refugees. In a lightning offensive , the IS militias were able to conquer sixty Kurdish villages within the enclave around Kobanê by September 19, 2014 . The 45,000 refugees were only able to flee towards the Turkish border, where they were only allowed in after violent protests. According to the media, at least 300 Turkish-Kurdish PKK fighters crossed the border with Syria on the night of September 20, 2014 in order to support the People's Defense Units (YPG). In the case of Kobanê, ethnic cleansing was feared in the event of a capture by IS , comparable to that of the Yazidis in Sinjar in summer 2014, as warned by Salih Muslim , chairman of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), in September 2014.

    Iraqi Humvees
    Tranche of 140     M1A1Ms delivered to Iraq
    Iraqi T-72

    The rapid advance of the IS militia was attributed, among other things, to the heavy weapons and humvees captured by the Iraqi army , which the United States had delivered to the Iraqi army. On September 21, 2014, 70,000 Syrian Kurds had already fled across the Turkish border and the IS units had come within 15 km of the city. There was rocket fire at Kobanê. According to Salih Muslim, there were around 500,000 people in the Kobanê pocket on September 21. The main thrusts of the IS were west of Jarabulus and east of Tall Abyad , in addition, the advance also took place from the south from Sarrin. During this time, the city was defended by the People's Defense Units, all civilians fit for weapons and a few hundred fighters from the Hêzên Parastina Gel (HPG).

    On September 21, the Zeravani commander announced his readiness to support the besieged. The Kurdistan Workers' Party called on the Turkish Kurds to fight the IS militias on September 22nd. According to information from Kurdish fighters, the advance of IS was stopped on the night of September 22nd. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) confirmed that the IS militias had not had any major successes in the past 24 hours. According to a member of the Syrian National Coalition, they were 8 km east, 12 km west and 15 km south of the city on September 22; the IS militias had captured 60 villages around Kobanê. Only armed men remained in the city. On the same day, Turkey reduced the number of open border crossings to two, this allows a better overview of the tourist traffic. Young men in particular were held back from crossing the border into Syria. Following the PKK's appeal to the Turkish Kurds, the ban on these young men from leaving the country weakened the defense forces of the city of Kobanê. Some Kurds who had fled also wanted to return after they had brought their relatives to safety. This trend intensified after the US Air Force and Arab allies first attacked targets in Syria on September 23 . Those leaving were only allowed to cross the border without weapons.

    On September 24, several fighter jets attacked IS positions around 30 km west of Kobanê. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights , the jets came from Turkish airspace. The fighting on the ground continued unabated. The IS fighters were able to advance 10 km west of the city. After the air strikes, IS moved additional fighters and tanks to the suburbs of the city.

    On September 25, the Kurds were able to make up another 10 to 15 km south of the city; west of the city the front line had stabilized at 15 km. Even at the beginning of the mass exodus to Turkey, a few Kurds returned after they knew their families were safe; this trend intensified after the air strikes against the positions of the IS.

    The number of returnees on September 26th was estimated at a few thousand. On September 26, the IS militias captured a strategically important hill west of the city near Zorava.

    On September 27, the US-led alliance flew air strikes on villages near Kobanê for the first time. At this point, ISIS was already under rocket and mortar fire . On the same day it was reported that the number of refugees could be exaggerated and that only 15,000 to 20,000 Syrians had fled instead of the 160,000 mentioned by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu . By September 28, 1,800 Kurdish fighters had been mobilized.

    Major attack by IS

    YPJ fighter during the fight against ISIS

    On September 28, the IS militias began a major attack on the city area. The west of the city was under shell fire. Artillery fire was reported from the east of the city . Many civilians left the city. Due to the thick cloud cover, no air strikes by the US-led alliance were possible from September 28 to 29. The Syrian Minister Ali Haidar said in an interview that the Syrian Air Force could not support Kobanê because it ran the risk of being shot down by the Turkish air defense so close to the Turkish border . Turkey increased its military presence along the border, including battle tanks , as the events progressed . Occasionally, grenades hit Turkish territory . The IS militias were able to contract the siege ring to around 4 to 7 km around the city by September 29. On September 30, the US Air Force and its Arab allies attacked two ISIS militia positions to the west and east of the city. At the same time, the Peshmerga launched an offensive in Iraq . By September 30, Turkey had positioned 35 M60 main battle tanks at the border in the area of ​​the city and put 10,000 men on alert. The IS militia encircled the sanctuary of Suleyman Shah near Qalʿat Jaʿbar , a Turkish exclave 30 km south of Kobanê. At that time, 36 soldiers were stationed in the sanctuary.

    On September 30th, the IS militias were about 2 km from the city limits. The inferiority of the defenders in terms of weapons technology was evident in the self-made tanks, which were built from the available civilian vehicles using welded-on steel plates and offered protection against light infantry weapons . By October 1, the IS militias had brought over 300 villages under their control as part of the offensive. According to the president of the self-appointed regional government of Kobanê (Ain al-Arab), Anwar Muslim, the US-led alliance attacked targets east of the city on October 1, and a Kurdish commander spoke of at least five waves of attacks in daylight. Meanwhile, the besiegers brought fresh forces from eastern Syria, and the artillery fire was increased. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Kurdish fighters captured during the siege, three women and one man, were beheaded and their heads hung in Jarabulus . According to Anwar Muslim, there were 5,000 to 6,000 Kurdish fighters and several thousand civilians ready to fight in the city.

    Location of the Mishtenur hill near Kobanê

    The intensity of the attacks on the city increased on October 3, when about 80 shells were fired on the city that day. The militias attacked from the south and the southeast. The YPG said it was able to repel three attacks and destroy two armored vehicles. The defenders judged the Alliance's air strikes to be ineffective as they only delayed the advance of the militias. The defenders' optimism - according to their own statements - was still unbroken on October 4, as the attackers originally wanted to celebrate the Islamic Festival of Sacrifice (October 4 to October 7, 2014) in the city. The attacks by the IS militia continued unabated on the morning of October 4, around 20 shells hit the city area, with the south-west of the city carrying the heavy weight of the attacks. The attackers reinforced their lines again with fighters from ar-Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor . On October 5th, the IS militia managed to secure the southern part of the Mishtenur hill, southwest of the city. The YPJ fighter Arin Mirkan was surrounded by IS fighters on the Mishtenur hill on October 5th and carried out a suicide attack in which 16 opponents are said to have died. On the night of October 6, the Kurdish defenders were able to repel a two-front attack on the Mishtenur hill. The IS militias attacked from the east and the west. The mortar fire on the urban area continued. The militias were able to move within 200 m of the city limits. TV pictures are said to show a four-story building in Kobanê on which the IS flag is already flying. According to Anwar Muslim, the YPG fighters would now go on the offensive. Most of the 300 or so FSA soldiers are stationed in the city center.

    Urban warfare

    According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) , IS fighters entered the city on the night of October 6, but ran into an ambush by the defenders and were thereby defeated by the enemy. In the course of the day there was an urban fight between the IS fighters and the defenders in the eastern part of the city. On October 7, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an industrial zone and the districts of Maktala al-Jadida and Kani Arabane were captured by IS fighters in the east of the city. On October 6th, the Kurdish militia ordered the civilians to leave the city, and on the same evening around 2000 civilians left the city for the Turkish border. According to the authorities of the city of Suruç , around 700 refugees passed the border in the night of October 6th to 7th. In addition to the injured and YPG fighters, corpses were brought across the border. The fighting on the southern and western fronts had meanwhile turned into house-to-house fighting. The Mishtenur hill had been taken by IS at that time. Since the hill allows a good view of the city area, artillery was placed here and Kobanê was put under fire. According to eyewitness reports, the IS fighters advanced with tanks and repeatedly used car bombs , and the YPG fighters repeatedly fought back streets.

    According to Kurdish information, the IS fighters had to leave many of their positions within the city as a result of the air strikes carried out on October 8. The Kurdish fighters were then able to push the IS militias back from the streets in the east of the city. The deputy foreign minister of the regional government of Ain al-Arab Idris Nassan considered this to be the beginning of the withdrawal of the IS fighters. A Kurdish journalist reported that the streets in the south-east of the city were full of corpses and pointed out the difficult humanitarian situation for the remaining civilians. The IS fighters launched a counteroffensive on the same day to recapture the lost streets. According to Rami Abd al-Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the IS units controlled the entire east as well as smaller areas in the north-east and south-east of the city on October 9; Turkey signaled not to intervene in the fighting alone. On October 10, the IS fighters controlled around 40 percent of the city area. According to the Syrian Observatory, the IS militias tried to conquer the escape corridor to Turkey, which would finally close the kettle. According to the UN - envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura were at this time 12,000 civilians, including 700 old people in the boiler. On October 11th, the attackers again brought fresh forces up to the kettle, the defenders repeatedly faced violent attacks from the south, west and above all from the east. Two suicide attacks by IS fighters were also reported. The defenders tried again and again in small groups to seep through the siege ring and thus attack the IS fighters in the back. On October 12, a YPG spokesman said that the recent air strikes had been very helpful and that some IS positions had been hit. The defenders were able to hold their positions and now tried to push back the IS fighters. According to Abdel Rahman, the head of SOHR, the attackers are withdrawing forces from the provinces of Aleppo and ar-Raqqa , among them there are now also less experienced fighters.

    On the night of October 13, the defenders were able to recapture two districts in Kobanê through offensives in the north-east and south-west. The fighting was supported by US-led air strikes that morning. Overall, the IS militia took control of the city center and around half of the city. Due to the intensification of the air strikes on October 14th and 15th, the advance of the IS fighters could be slowed down; the defenders were also able to capture two IS positions. According to Rear Admiral John Kirby , several hundred IS fighters were killed in the intensified air strikes. The Iraqi-Kurdish news website Rudaw Media Network reported, citing Kurdish representatives , that the IS fighters only controlled 20 percent of the city, while the Turkish IS-affiliated website Takvahaber reported the opposite. According to a commander of the Kurdish People's Defense Forces , the Kurds have advanced on all three fronts in recent days. At the same time, the YPG went on the offensive at Raʾs al-ʿAin in al-Hasakah Governorate , about 150 km east of Kobanê. The Syrian army began while the significantly increased air strikes, an offensive and bombed held by IS militias neighborhood in Deir ez-Zor in Deir ez-Zor Governorate . The IS militia began again with increased shelling of the city on October 18, on that day alone 44 grenades are said to have been fired at YPG positions. The SOHR reported that during heavy fighting from midnight until the morning of October 19, troops of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) - with air support - advanced into the Kani Araban district occupied by IS.

    Approximate course of the front line (black) in and around Kobanê on October 29, 2014

    After the trapped YPG fighters were supplied with supplies by air on the evening of October 19, Turkey made it easier for the Iraqi Peshmerga to cross the border . Further details of how this easier access should look like were not disclosed. After this first delivery, the IS militias intensified their attacks and again brought additional forces from the cities of ar-Raqqa and Jarābulus . Several car bombs were controlled against YPG positions, but these were all destroyed in time, according to Anwar Muslim. No Peshmerga had arrived as reinforcements by the evening of October 21, as the corridor through Turkey had not yet been determined. The IS militias intensified their attacks on the strategically important hill Tell Shair, about 3 km to the northwest, and were able to temporarily capture it. After successful air strikes by the alliance, the YPG fighters managed to recapture the hill and thus secure the supply from the air. On October 24th, FSA fighters from Aleppo Province announced that they would send 1,300 fighters to Kobanê. According to Erdoğan, the discussion about a possible route for the Peshmerga through Turkey is still ongoing. An agreement could be reached that 150 Peshmerga with heavy weapons are allowed to march over Turkish territory to Kobanê. Representatives of the YPG asked the 1,300 FSA fighters who wanted to support the defenders not to advance through Turkey, but through Syrian territory to the city. On October 26, IS militias attacked from the northeast to cut off the border crossing to Mürşitpınar, Turkey . If successful, the planned Peshmerga reinforcement would have to break through the siege ring from Turkish territory, the IS fighters were about 700 meters from the border crossing.

    On October 27, an ISIS militia propaganda video with the British hostage John Cantlie was released. Cantlie speaks against the backdrop of a destroyed city and rejects claims that the IS fighters' offensive has been slowed down. The victory over Kobanê is only a matter of time, says Cantlie. The aerial photographs, allegedly taken by a drone belonging to the Islamic State Army , coincide with satellite images of Kobanê taken before the conflict.

    According to the Kurdish spokesman Idriss Nassan, 50 to 70 FSA fighters arrived in the city of Kobanê on October 29 . On the morning of the same day, around 70 Peshmerga crossed the Iraqi-Turkish border with heavy weapons, and another 80 Peshmerga landed at the airport in the Turkish city of Şanlıurfa . Another attempt by the IS militias to cut off the corridor failed again. The first 10 peshmerga arrived in Kobanê on October 30th. According to the Kurdish regional government, the Peshmerga are intended as artillery support . According to the Kurdish spokesman for the defenders, these first Peshmerga made logistical preparations for the arrival of further armed forces from the autonomous region of Kurdistan . The FSA commander Nisar al-Chatib spoke out against further reinforcements on the part of the FSA, the FSA fighters were also urgently needed in Aleppo , the situation there was very dangerous. On the night of November 1, the 150 Peshmerga reached Kobanê with heavy weapons.

    On November 5, it was announced that the defenders were advancing to the east, south and west of the city and were also able to recapture three small towns to the west of Kobanê. With the support of the Peshmerga artillery, it was also possible to interrupt supply routes for the IS militias. The fronts began to freeze at this point, neither of the two parties was able to achieve significant gains. Troop movements of the IS militia could be observed both near Kobanê and in the Afrin area. On November 9th, the siege ring could be pushed back a little, the Kurdish forces tried to recapture the city center. The defenders' counteroffensive made slow progress as the IS militias mined the houses they had captured. The defenders were able to gain ground in the south of Kobanê by November 12th, and for the first time since the beginning of October there were battles on the strategically important Mishtenur hill. By November 18, the defenders had made further progress in the east and south of Kobanê, leaving 80 percent of the city back in their hands.

    According to Kurdish information, the IS militias first attacked from Turkish territory on November 29th. The suicide attack was carried out with a car, followed by fierce fighting. Turkish officials dismissed this claim as a lie. On December 2, another 150 Peshmerga arrived, under strict secrecy, as a replacement in Kobanê. In the battle for Kobanê, the Peshmerga concentrate on the use of their artillery , while fighters of the YPG carry out house-to-house combat.

    Successes of the Kurdish units

    At the beginning of 2015, the Kurdish troops controlled around 80% of Kobanês. Only the districts of Maktala and Kani Kordan in the east of the city are said to have been controlled by IS. On January 6, 2015, IS forces tried to conquer the "Black School" as a strategic point with the support of two tanks . There were air strikes the following night, on the morning of January 7th the tanks were knocked out by Katyusha fire and the attack was repulsed. On the night of January 19, the defenders were able to recapture Mishtenur Hill, which was lost in early October 2014.

    On January 26, Kurdish groups declared the fight over Kobanê over on Twitter and Facebook . The previous evening, a Peshmerga leader confirmed to the Russian news agency Sputnik that 90% of the city had been liberated, the IS troops had withdrawn and two main roads from Kobanê to Aleppo had been secured .

    At the beginning of February 2015, the city was considered liberated. However, the city is badly destroyed. The reconstruction (if undisturbed) will take several years. Anwar Muslim is the head of the city administration.

    By February 14, the defenders, with the support of rebel groups and the US Air Force, were able to retake at least 163 villages around Kobanê.

    Air support of the anti-IS coalition

    Air strikes

    On September 24, several fighter jets attacked IS positions around 30 km west of Kobanê. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights , the jets came from Turkish airspace. On September 27, the US-led alliance carried out air strikes on villages near the city for the first time. Rear Admiral John Kirby explained the strategy behind the air strikes on September 30th: “The first wave of attacks had strategic goals. We have hit command and control facilities, financial centers, training camps and oil refineries. ”In the future, air strikes would increasingly be directed against armored vehicles and convoys. On October 2, an IS checkpoint near Kobanê was destroyed. On October 4, the Allied fighter jets attacked positions near the city, killing 5 IS militia fighters.

    Overview of the air strikes in and around the city from October 6 to November 3, 2014

    The alliance had doubled the number of its air strikes on IS positions since October 6th. On October 6, two IS positions south of the city were destroyed in an air strike. On October 7th, five air strikes were carried out in the south of the city. The Alliance carried out eight air strikes in the vicinity of the city on October 8. According to eyewitness reports, IS positions in the occupied east and positions on Mishtenur Hill in the south-east were attacked, and weapons depots were also allegedly hit. On October 9, five air strikes were carried out south of Kobanê, damaging an IS training camp, among other things. On October 10, two IS training camps south-east of Kobanê were destroyed by two air strikes, and four air strikes were carried out in the south and one in the north-east of the city. On October 11, four air strikes north and two air strikes south of the city were carried out. On October 12th, three air strikes were carried out on IS positions in the city. On the morning of October 13, the Alliance carried out five air strikes against IS positions. Four air strikes fell southwest of the city limits and three air strikes northeast.

    Coalition air strike on October 21, 2014

    On October 14th, 21 air strikes were carried out around the city, including an artillery depot, two grenade launchers, seven IS assembly points and three buildings. On October 15, pressure on the IS militia was maintained with 18 air strikes. The YPG meanwhile transmitted targets of attack. In mid-October left the volume group USS George HW Bush , the Fifth Fleet , the release was carried out by the support group USS Carl Vinson . According to the DoD , 14 air strikes were carried out near Kobanê on October 16. After the intense air strikes of the previous days and the gains in terrain by the defending ground troops, 6 air strikes were carried out near the city on October 17th. October 18 reached the second lowest value since the house-to-house war began with two air strikes. In the early hours of October 19, three air strikes were carried out on IS positions in the Kani Araban district in the east of the city and three more on retreats west of Kobanê. A total of eleven air strikes were carried out that day. On October 20, 6 air strikes were carried out against IS positions near Kobanê.

    Airlift

    Estimation of the strip of land held by the defenders

    On the evening of October 19, the trapped forces were supplied by the Alliance for the first time, the supplies were dropped from Lockheed C-130 freighters . The US military command announced that there had been several supply flights and that the material came from the Kurdish authorities of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region in Iraq . People's Protection Units (YPG) spokesman Boulat Jan said a large amount of weapons and ammunition, including machine guns and armor piercing weapons, as well as medical supplies, had reached Kobanê. The drop took place on the strip of land held by the defenders, between the Tell Shair hill and the city limits of Kobanê. This drop was mentioned in the sixth IS propaganda video with the hostage John Cantlie , as a fraction of the goods fell into the hands of the attackers.

    Events north of the Syrian-Turkish border

    On October 5, a grenade struck a Turkish house in the border town of Mürşitpınar, injuring four civilians, another grenade injured a Turkish police officer, and two villages on the Turkish side of the border were evacuated. On October 6, a 700 m deep exclusion zone was set up on the Turkish side facing the border.

    Kurdish fighters from Turkey were still prevented by Turkish soldiers from crossing the border to help defend Kobanê. Salih Muslim assured that Kurdish fighters were ready in Afrin and Cizre and only needed a corridor through Turkish territory to be able to give support to Kobanê. Hundreds of Kurdish refugees who had crossed the border after the house-to-house war had started were detained to establish their identity , the Turkish authorities justified this with the argument that whoever came over from the other side of the border belonged either to the PKK or the YPG.

    After initial difficulties, fleeing Kurds were allowed to enter Turkish territory. A large number of injured Kurdish fighters from Kobanê were taken to Turkish hospitals. Hospital staff in Turkey criticized the fact that injured IS fighters were treated in Turkish hospitals in order to later continue fighting in Syria.

    New attacks in June 2015

    On June 25, 2015, IS again attacked Kobanê. At the same time, the village of Barcha Batan , 35 km further south, and the city of al-Hasakah in north-east Syria were attacked. The attack began in the morning with the explosion of a truck bomb at the border crossing to Mürşitpınar in Turkey . The IS fighters had camouflaged themselves in the uniforms of the Syrian rebels and the Kurdish people's defense units. During the day, the Kurdish units repelled the attack on Kobanê. Three days later, all attackers were incapacitated. At least 240 people are said to have died in the attack, including 16 Kurdish fighters and 174 civilians.

    Exclave at the tomb of Suleiman Shah

    In March 2014, a sensational tape recording of a secret meeting of leading Turkish politicians circulated on YouTube . After the recording, the option was discussed of staging a mock attack from Syrian territory on the tomb of Sulayman Shah  - a Turkish exclave with an army post - in order to drag Turkey and subsequently NATO into the Syrian civil war. In the same recording, however, this option was rejected as unrealistic. The publication of the recordings on the internet caused annoyance.

    According to the media, an attack on the exclave encircled by IS fighters could theoretically have resulted in an alliance for NATO. However, since Turkey's claim to the exclave as national territory is controversial and an attack according to the UN definition would have to exist for an alliance case under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty , NATO assistance would be classified as unlikely.

    The enclave with 36 Turkish soldiers was surrounded by IS militias at the end of September 2014. The IS had already requested the withdrawal in March 2014. The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on October 4, 2014 in relation to the exclave: "If you give our soldiers a twist, Turkey and its army will do what is necessary and everything will suddenly change." In a two-day commando operation A Turkish military unit , with 700 men and heavy tanks , penetrated via Kobanê to the tomb, secured the remains of Suleiman Shah and razed the tomb. The mission ended on the night of February 22, 2015. This action was viewed as politically explosive, as the Turkish army had previously watched the fighting in the border town for months. The area between the tomb and Kobanê was again under Kurdish control at this time. The remains were brought to Ashme, a village west of Kobanê, where the tomb will be rebuilt.

    Poison gas attacks

    According to eyewitnesses in Kobanê, numerous residents of the city have shown symptoms of a poison gas attack, while the use of poison gas has not been independently confirmed. Repeated claims have been made that these weapons came from Iraq's chemical weapons program . In June 2014, the IS militias captured the Muthanna chemical weapons complex 75 km northwest of Baghdad , where, according to a report in the New York Times , sarin rockets and mustard gas projectiles were left behind. Since sarin breaks down very quickly, the twenty year old stocks are considered useless. The mustard gas bullets, on the other hand, should be able to survive decades undamaged. The chemical weapons expert Jean Pascal Zanders wrote in the specialist magazine CBRNe World in August 2014 that none of the reports indicated that there were grenades filled with mustard gas in the complex. However, it is unclear whether the IS militias were able to steal chemical weapons from the Syrian armed forces or to what extent stocks could be replenished via the black market .

    International positions

    Politics of turkey

    On September 30, 2014, the government in Ankara submitted a motion to parliament for military intervention in Iraq and Syria. On October 2, 2014, the Turkish parliament voted on entering into hostilities against terrorist organizations. The imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan said that should a massacre of the population in Kobanê occur, the PKK would end the peace process with Turkey. The parliament in Ankara passed a mandate on the evening of October 2, which gave the government a free hand for a year to use ground troops or other military means against terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq . Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu assured the Kurds in the city of help: “We will do whatever we can to prevent Kobanê from falling.” Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz , on the other hand, said after the parliamentary decision that rapid military intervention was not to be expected. Since the end of September, Turkey had positioned battalion-strength tanks around 450 meters from Ain al-Arab and also put two brigades on alert in the border area. According to the FAZ, there are around three dozen old M60 tanks (although the Turkish Army also has modern Leopard tanks). Against this background, the contradicting statements of the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister fueled the already existing speculations about Turkey's intentions. At that time, Turkey had three main options to prevent the fall of Kobanê: a diplomatic solution to the conflict, opening the borders for Kurds willing to fight and their weapons, or liberating the city with its own combat units. Syria warned Turkey on October 3, 2014 against an intervention as a "violation of sovereignty and act of aggression"; Iran similarly warned "at least the countries in the region should not do anything that would further escalate the situation".

    Support for Kobanê from the Turkish army was still not to be expected, as can be deduced from the following statements by the Prime Minister. "We will do everything possible to help the people in Kobanê," said Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu the US broadcaster CNN. However, he restricted: "Sending ground troops is of course a different decision." What possible help for Kobanê could look like was not specified. Against the background of the looming conquest of Kobanê and the Turkish ground troops that have been waiting at the border for days, Turkish President Erdoğan spoke to refugees in the city of Gaziantep on October 7th. Erdoğan criticized the inadequate air strikes by the Allies: "You cannot put an end to this terrorism only through air strikes." He again called for a protection zone and the strengthening of moderate fighters in Syria. Appropriately, Davutoğlu declared that Turkey was ready to do anything in the fight against IS extremists in Syria, but set conditions. The Kurdish defenders have close ties to the PKK, which is classified as a terrorist organization in Turkey and many other countries . Erdoğan made it clear: "Just as Turkey is against the terrorist organization Isis (IS), it is also against the terrorist organization PKK." The Turkish political scientist Ekrem Güzelder sees the organization IS as the lesser evil for Turkey; the Kurds from Kobanê organized themselves on the model of the PKK and should therefore be seen politically and socially as opposed to the AKP .

    One of the obstacles to possible action by Turkey was that in June 2014 ISIS stormed the Turkish consulate in Mosul, northern Iraq and took 49 people hostage. They were released on September 20, 2014 after lengthy negotiations.

    Due to the attitude of Turkey not to send military aid itself, nor to let Kurdish fighters or weapons across the border for support, there were demonstrations in Turkey and in other countries. According to the Turkish government, 31 people were killed in these demonstrations by October 10. Cemil Bayık saw an end to the peace process with the PKK in the authorization granted by Parliament on October 2. The UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura called on Turkey on October 11 to let at least the voluntary Kurdish fighters and their weapons to Kobanê. Turkey rejected this proposal. The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu described a corridor through which weapons and fighters could get into the city from Turkey in support of the Kurds as unrealistic. According to Susan Rice , the national security adviser of US President Obama , the international alliance in the future should also use NATO bases in Turkey; Turkey also allows moderate Syrian rebels to be trained on its territory.

    On October 10, 2014, Turkey made specific demands for the deployment of ground troops: support for the deployment of ground troops and the establishment of a protection and no-fly zone on Syrian territory. The overthrow of the Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad had already been formulated once as a condition for the anti-IS alliance by Ahmet Davutoğlu in order to achieve participation by Turkey.

    On October 13, 2014, the press said that Turkey was making its airports, especially the one in Incirlik , available for Allied air strikes against IS. A denial followed hours later. Turkey also insisted on not opening a corridor to supply the Kurds trapped. After PKK rebels had fired at a military post in Hakkari province for three days , Turkey launched air strikes against PKK positions in Dağlıca district on October 14. These were the most violent attacks since the beginning of the peace process with the PKK.

    On October 19, Amnesty International (AI) announced that of 250 Syrian refugees arrested in Turkey, 107 were threatened with deportation to the embattled city. The 250 Syrian refugees were arrested for alleged links to the PYD . According to AI, refugees, including children, were deported. The President of Turkey reaffirmed the will to cooperate against the IS militias, but also made it clear that there would be no arms delivery to the defenders of Kobanê, as they belonged to the PYD and would therefore be a terrorist organization like the PKK.

    On October 20, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced at a press conference that Turkey was ready to let Peshmerga from the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq to Kobanê. Kurds from Turkey, on the other hand, should still not be allowed to join the YPG.

    On October 23, 2014, the Turkish head of state Erdogan called the US weapons drop for the Kurdish fighters in Kobanê "wrong".

    United States Politics

    The director of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies think tank Jackson Janes stated on October 11 that the United States already viewed Kobanê as lost. An indication of this is that the US-led alliance will not meet until October 14th. After the losses of the USA in the last Iraq war , a deployment of ground troops is not to be expected as long as the immediate neighbors are not active. The impending massacre does nothing to change that. Countries that were directly adjacent to IS territory at the time were Turkey and Jordan .

    On October 9, it was announced that the USA, along with Great Britain and France, now considered a protection zone to be debatable. According to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad criticized the French support for this idea. Damascus viewed this project as an attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.

    US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke on October 11 of some progress in the Battle of Kobanê. The US would do everything that could be achieved by air strikes to push back the attackers.

    In Paris on October 14, the American Secretary of State Kerry and his Russian counterpart Lavrov agreed on “the need to destroy and defeat ISIS. […] The Russian government is also sounding out ways to arm and train Iraqi government troops. ”Cooperation between the intelligence services should be strengthened.

    According to Rami Abdel Rahman, head of SOHR, there were close agreements between the US-led alliance and the YPG before the more massive air strikes.

    Position of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region

    As early as 2012, the President of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan Masud Barzani tried to reach an agreement between the various Kurdish parties in Syria and asked them all to come to one table to take advantage of the opportunity and to come together. Above all, the PYD should create problems for Barzani in this context, since at that time it was still sticking to its course of dialogue with Damascus. In the summer of 2013, Barzani promised to do everything in power to help the Kurds in Syria, who are threatened by Islamists. In November of the same year, however, there were already disagreements between Barzani and the PYD. Barzani accused the PKK- affiliated organization of autocracy and the suppression of competing Kurdish parties. In this context, the Kurdish government in Iraq also refused to recognize the autonomy in Syrian Kurdistan ( Rojava ) , which had been unilaterally declared by the PYD . Above all, the Barzani government called for other Kurdish parties to be included in the Rojavas government and for the PYD to distance itself from sole rule. The disagreements temporarily led to a Kurdish Cold War between the PYD and the PKK on the one hand and the Barzani government and several Syrian-Kurdish parties on the other. This situation persisted until spring and summer 2014, when Barzani accused the PYD of collaborating with the Assad regime. With the IS attack on Mosul , Erbil and Kirkuk in August 2014 and the subsequent attacks by the Islamists against regions in Syria held by the PYD, the Barzani government and the PYD came closer. After gradually getting closer and after many talks, also with the USA and Turkey, the Kurdistan government decided to send Peshmerga units to Kobanê in October 2014. Above all, the supplies of weapons and food that were delivered in this way came in very handy for the Kurdish units in need in the city. In December 2014 a second unit of the Peshmerga Army reached Kobanê.

    Syria

    The Syrian Minister of Information Umran Ahid al-Zabi is quoted as saying: “ The state, along with its armed forces and aircraft, has provided the city with military and logistical support and provided it with ammunition and weapons. “In addition, the Syrian government will continue to“ deliver military aid to Kobanê at the highest levels ”. The Syrian foreign ministry warned Turkey of an intervention on Syrian soil and refused to create a buffer zone.

    Positions in Germany

    On October 13, 2014 the media reported that the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was ruling out a UN ground force with German participation against IS in Syria. The parliamentary group leader of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen in the Bundestag , Katrin Göring-Eckardt , told the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the Greens would agree to the participation of German soldiers, even if this would mean the use of ground troops. The Left Party demands with respect to Kobane that Turkey would be forced to be "fully close the borders for the IS terrorists and support networks in the country to eliminate."

    UN positions

    On October 30, regional ceasefire zones were considered by the UN for the first time.

    "In these areas we can first start a political process at the local level and then finally at the national level"

    - Staffan de Mistura

    As a first possible Freeze Zone was Aleppo called.

    Demonstrations for Kobanê

    There were demonstrations across Europe calling for support for the defenders in Kobanê. During demonstrations in Turkey there were violent clashes between demonstrators and the police, but also between Islamists from the Free Cause Party (Hüda Par) and supporters of the PKK from the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H) with more than 37 dead. In Hamburg and Celle there were riots between demonstrators and “radical Muslims”.

    Significance of the struggle for Kobanê

    Importance for the Kurds

    Since the YPG took control of the predominantly Kurdish area in northern Syria after the troops of the Bashar al-Assad regime withdrew in 2012 and the Syrian Kurds were able to establish an "autonomous canton" Kobanê as the first of their three important enclaves , which they are building up using their own regional power structures, the possible takeover of Ain al-Arab (Kurdish: Kobanê) by the IS militia meant for them not only the loss of a strategically important supply route, but also a psychologically severe defeat.

    Ain al-Arab was flanked by two IS-controlled cities in the east and west, bordered on the Turkish border in the north and was 140 km north of the IS stronghold of Raqqa, which was considered the center of IS-controlled territory, so that, according to media reports, from a strategic point of view of IS, an offensive against Ain al-Arab was an option. The city was considered one of the three “survival arteries” (FAZ) of the YPG in northern Syria and, according to media reports, was also on the route through which many foreign jihadists entered and from which it was possible to get weapons and relief supplies from other organizations that oppose the Assad regimes fought to intercept.

    Locals also attached great symbolic importance to sovereignty over the city. According to the Turkey expert Günter Seufert (SWP), Ain al-Arab was of great symbolic importance for the Turkish Kurds, especially the supporters of the PKK, as the place where, from their point of view, the first attempt was made to implement the social model, which its political leader Abdullah Öcalan had proclaimed for a new coexistence of the different ethnic groups and denominations in the Middle East and which was based heavily on direct democracy and participation. From the perspective of these PKK-affiliated Kurds, Ain al-Arab symbolizes the future of the Kurds in the Middle East.

    Significance for the fight against IS

    The possible capture of the city of Ain al-Arab was also classified by observers as strategically and ideologically important for the IS, which by capturing the city controls another border crossing to Turkey - besides the ones to the west and east of Ain al-Arab - and controls the connect cities already conquered by him in northern Syria and consolidate his territories.

    A defeat of IS at Kobanê despite numerical and massive armed forces superiority would rob the aura of invincibility and shatter the trust of its allies. This would also be the second unsuccessful attempt to take a city in two months after the siege of Amerli . For the alliance, a defeat could be the confirmation of the lack of penetration and also represent a considerable burden on the alliance.

    International attention

    For the international alliance, however, the battle for Kobanê was of only minor strategic importance for a long time. Up until the house-to-house war in Kobanê only sporadic air strikes against IS positions were recorded. However, with the bitter resistance of the defenders, the battle acquired political and symbolic significance, and the air strikes were conducted both in greater numbers and effectively against the attackers' positions in and around Kobanê.

    During the fighting with the IS militia in autumn 2014, the city of Ain al-Arab quickly achieved worldwide fame. In the western states, the importance of the possible capture of the city by the IS militias was associated with a “shameful failure” (Rainer Hermann / FAZ) of their own politics. The struggle for Ain al-Arab became a symbol of the inability of the international community to end the jihadists' march of conquest. In contrast to most of the other theaters of war in northern Syria, dramatic television images were available because some of the events could be filmed from the security behind the Turkish armored line. As a result, the outcome and the threatened capture of the city by IS could be followed visually by the world public, which increased the prestige value of the struggle for the conflicting parties.

    At the end of November 2014, the first comparisons with the Battle of Waterloo surfaced in the media , as the IS militia failed to conquer the city.

    The fact that women in the People's Defense Units (YPG) fight alongside men on an equal footing received a lot of public attention; they make up about a third of the 40,000 YPG fighters.

    Erdogan criticized at the end of October 2014 that "only Kobane was spoken of".

    The active military support of the Peshmerga in Kobanê set an example for a rapprochement between the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan and the Rojava region .

    See also

    literature

    • Ismail Küpeli (ed.): Battle for Kobanê, battle for the future of the Middle East . Münster 2015, ISBN 978-3-942885-89-8

    Web links

    Commons : Battle for Kobanê  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ A b Alfred Hackensberger: They let the Kurds go under. Die Presse , October 11, 2014, accessed on October 11, 2014 .
    2. ^ Sylvia Westall, Ayla Jean Yackley: Kurds push Islamic State out of Kobani after four-month battle. Reuters , January 26, 2015, accessed January 26, 2015 .
    3. ^ Kurdish fighters and Free Syrian Army clash with IS at strategic border town. REUTERS , September 27, 2014, accessed October 4, 2014 .
    4. ↑ a b Kurdish man in Kobane: 'IS trying to reach downtown Kobane'. BBC , October 7, 2014, accessed October 12, 2014 .
    5. ↑ Daren Butler: Street fighting rages in Syrian town as Islamic State moves in. REUTERS , October 6, 2014, accessed on November 1, 2014 .
    6. ↑ - ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
    7. ↑ There is no difference on the battlefield . In: Wiener Zeitung , accessed on October 15, 2014
    8. ↑ The face of evil: Young, red-bearded Chechen who has become the most recognizable commander of Isis terror group . In: Daily Mail , accessed October 6, 2014 (English)
    9. ^ A b Karen DeYoung and Liz Sly: US pounds Islamic State in Kobane, seeking a propaganda and a military win. The Washington Post , October 15, 2014, accessed October 30, 2014 .
    10. ↑ a b UN for regional armistice zones in Syria. APA , October 31, 2014, accessed October 31, 2014 .
    11. ↑ a b http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/200120153?keyword=kobani
    12. ↑ Syrie: la population se réfugie en Turquie, les combats s'intensifient . In: RFI , accessed October 4, 2014 (French)
    13. ↑ Can Turkey win against the Islamic State? In: Die Welt , accessed October 4, 2014
    14. ↑ : Fears of massacre as Isis tanks lead assault on Kurdish bastion . In: The Times , accessed October 4, 2014
    15. ↑ a b SOHR: More than 1800 killed since the IS started its attack on Ein al-Arab "Kobane". February 16, 2015, accessed February 16, 2015 .
    16. ↑ a b c Kurds successfully expel IS militia from Kobani , Die Welt of June 27, 2015.
    17. ↑ Why the IS is holding on to the conquest of Kobanê. Der Standard , September 29, 2014, accessed October 4, 2014 .
    18. ↑ Unleashed IS advances, exodus from Syria. Die Welt , September 14, 2014, accessed October 12, 2014 .
    19. ↑ Cornelia Wegerhoff: "Kobane is facing a catastrophe". Tagesschau , October 2, 2014, archived from the original on October 2, 2014 ; accessed on October 12, 2014 .
    20. ^ Residents of Ain al-Arab fear massacres. N24 , September 30, 2014, accessed October 4, 2014 .
    21. ^ Syria says giving military support to Kurds in Kobani. The Daily Star (Lebanon) , October 24, 2014, accessed October 24, 2014 .
    22. ↑ a b c IS - Syria: Warning of "worse purges than in Sinjar". Tiroler Tageszeitung , September 20, 2014, accessed on March 19, 2020 .
    23. ↑ "Islamic State" - Syrian Kurds call for international aid against IS ( memento from September 21, 2014 on WebCite ) , Zeit Online, September 21, 2014, by Muriel Reichl, archived from the original .
    24. ↑ IS militants force over 100,000 Kurds to flee into Turkey ( Memento of 5 October 2014 Webcite ) (English). France 24 , September 22, 2014, archived from the original .
    25. ↑ Unleashed IS advances, exodus from Syria. Die Welt, accessed on September 21, 2014 .
    26. ↑ “The aim of IS is a genocide against the Kurds”. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , September 21, 2014, accessed on September 21, 2014 .
    27. ↑ Markus Bickel: Hope in the West. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , September 22, 2014, accessed on September 22, 2014 .
    28. ^ APA: Turkey is fighting with the influx of refugees from Syria. Der Standard, September 22, 2014, accessed September 22, 2014 .
    29. ↑ Die Welt: Escape from the "ghost town" Ain Al-Arab , accessed on September 22, 2014
    30. ↑ SPON: Radical Kurds against IS militia: Now the PKK should judge it , accessed on September 22, 2014
    31. ↑ Turkey closes border crossings to Syria , accessed on September 22, 2014
    32. ↑ Refugee Kurds on their way back to Syria: From Hell, into Hell , accessed on September 24, 2014
    33. ↑ Syria: Air strikes on IS targets on the Turkish border , accessed on September 24, 2014
    34. ↑ Obama announces continuation of the fight against IS , accessed on September 24, 2014
    35. ^ IS terror: Kurds push IS back , accessed on September 25, 2014
    36. ↑ faz: Return to Kobane , accessed on September 26, 2014
    37. ↑ ZEIT ONLINE: Fighter jets return from Iraq without the use of weapons , accessed on September 27, 2014
    38. ↑ WZ: “FAS”: Turkey exaggerates the number of refugees from Syria ( memento of October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 27, 2014
    39. ↑ Die Welt: Kurds mobilize 1,800 fighters in the battle for Ain al-Arab , accessed on September 28, 2014
    40. ↑ Die Presse: IS extremists launch major attack on Kurdish enclave , accessed on September 28, 2014
    41. ↑ Black Forest Messenger: Kurdish enclave Ain al-Arab under attack , accessed on September 28, 2014
    42. ↑ Tagesschau: Bad weather helps IS ( memento of September 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 29, 2014
    43. ↑ Syrian Minister: We Could Not Defend Kobane Because of Turkey , accessed on September 29, 2014 (English)
    44. ↑ IS is getting closer to Kobane , accessed on September 29, 2014
    45. ↑ TRIBUNE: Turkey deploys tanks to border as lawmakers to consider anti-IS action , accessed on September 29, 2014 (English)
    46. ↑ MZ: Kurds advance on three fronts , accessed on September 30, 2014
    47. ↑ AFP: Kurds advance on three fronts against jihadists , accessed on September 30, 2014
    48. ↑ Fighting near Turkey: IS militias within sight of Kobane , accessed on September 30, 2014
    49. ↑ Tagblatt: The Kurds and the "Mad Max" tanks , accessed on October 1, 2014
    50. ↑ a b Stern: IS controls over 300 villages around Kobane ( memento from October 1, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on October 1, 2014
    51. ↑ Allianz flies attacks on Kobanê again , accessed on October 1, 2014
    52. ↑ web.de ( memento from October 1, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on October 1, 2014
    53. ↑ International coalition bombs IS near Kobane , accessed on October 1, 2014
    54. ↑ Kurds in Kobane are preparing for street fighting , accessed on October 2, 2014
    55. ↑ a b Walliser Bote: The attacks by the jihadists on Kobane are getting harder ( memento of October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 3, 2014
    56. ↑ a b Spiegel Online: Battle for Kobane: Kurds are said to have destroyed IS tanks , accessed on October 3, 2014
    57. ↑ New US raids hit extremists outside Syria Kurdish town , accessed October 4, 2014.
    58. ↑ mv-online.de ( Memento from October 4, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on October 4, 2014
    59. ↑ 1815.ch: Kurdish fighters in Kobane more and more encircled ( memento of October 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 6, 2014
    60. ↑ IS fighters apparently take part of the hill near Kobane , accessed on October 5, 2014 ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
    61. ↑ Kurdish News: Kobanê: Suicide attack by a YPJ fighter ( memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 5, 2014
    62. ↑ Blick.ch: This Kurdish woman sacrificed herself to stop IS , accessed on October 6, 2014
    63. ↑ a b sueddeutsche.de: Kurds demand better support on the ground , accessed on October 6, 2014
    64. ↑ a b Kurdish fighters have apparently thwarted an attack by the IS terrorist militia on the northern Syrian city of Kobane - despite inadequate military equipment , accessed on October 6, 2014
    65. ↑ Stern: Heavy fighting with IS jihadists around Kobane ( Memento from October 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
    66. ^ ORF: Aktivisten: IS conquers three districts of Ain al-Arab , accessed on October 7, 2014
    67. ↑ Stern: Fighting in the Syrian border town of Kobane is spreading ( memento from October 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 7, 2014
    68. ↑ n-tv: IS jihadists keep advancing , accessed on October 7, 2014
    69. ↑ a b c d ORF: IS fighters partially displaced , accessed on October 8, 2014
    70. ↑ Kobane: ISIS militias are said to have taken over a third . In: Spiegel Online
    71. ↑ tagesschau.de: IS controls large parts of Kobane ( memento of October 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 10, 2014
    72. ↑ ntv: IS fighters grapple with Kurds , accessed on October 11, 2014
    73. ↑ a b APA: IS advance in Kobane apparently stalled , accessed on October 12, 2014
    74. ↑ APA: Kurds recaptured parts of Kobane , accessed on October 13, 2014
    75. ^ Oppressed Kurds in Syria: IS fighters in the center of Kobane - Middle East & North Africa News - NZZ.ch
    76. ↑ APA: US air strikes on IS positions are having an effect , accessed on October 15, 2014
    77. ↑ Syrian Kurds see themselves shortly before victory in Kobane , accessed on October 16, 2014
    78. ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Kurds on the advance , accessed on October 17, 2014
    79. ↑ a b ORF: No end in sight in the battle for Kobane , accessed on October 19, 2014
    80. ↑ a b APA: Kurds fought back IS fighters in the east of Kobane , accessed on October 19, 2014
    81. ↑ Markus Bernath: Turkey facilitates access to Kobanê for Iraqi Peshmerga fighters. Der Standard, October 20, 2014, accessed October 30, 2014 .
    82. ↑ No peshmerga in Kobane yet. Badische Zeitung , October 21, 2014, accessed on October 30, 2014 .
    83. ↑ a b Kobanes Kurds get reinforcements. APA, October 25, 2014, accessed October 25, 2014 .
    84. ↑ Peshmerga fighters start on Sunday for Kobane. Abendzeitung Munich , October 25, 2014, archived from the original on October 25, 2014 ; Retrieved October 25, 2014 .
    85. ↑ Kurds are pushing IS again in Kobane. APA, October 25, 2014, accessed October 25, 2014 .
    86. ↑ 150 Peshmerga fighters are supposed to go to Kobane today. Der Standard, October 27, 2014, accessed October 27, 2014 .
    87. ↑ Another IS video with British hostage Cantlie. APA, October 28, 2014, accessed October 28, 2014 .
    88. ^ Peshmerga on the way to Kobane. ARD , October 29, 2014, archived from the original on October 29, 2014 ; Retrieved October 29, 2014 .
    89. ↑ Syrian fighters arrive in Kobane. n-tv , October 29, 2014, accessed October 29, 2014 .
    90. ↑ First Peshmerga reached the Syrian city of Kobane. APA, October 30, 2014; archived from the original on October 30, 2014 ; accessed on October 30, 2014 .
    91. ↑ First peshmerga in Kobani arrived. In: welt.de . October 31, 2014, accessed October 7, 2018 .
    92. ↑ Border as a contested key point. ORF, October 30, 2014, accessed October 30, 2014 .
    93. ↑ Defenders of Kobane report successes against IS. Der Standard, November 5, 2014, accessed November 5, 2014 .
    94. ↑ The frozen battle for Kobane. n, November 7, 2014, accessed November 7, 2014 .
    95. ↑ US jets attacked a convoy with IS leaders in Iraq. APA, November 9, 2014, accessed November 9, 2014 .
    96. ↑ Kurds report progress in Kobane. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, November 11, 2014, accessed on November 11, 2014 .
    97. ↑ APA: Kurdish fighters advance against IS in the south of Kobane. Der Standard, November 12, 2014, accessed November 12, 2014 .
    98. ↑ dpa: IS only holds 20 percent of Kobane. n-tv, November 18, 2014, accessed November 18, 2014 .
    99. ↑ Suicide attack on the border. ORF, November 30, 2014, accessed on December 1, 2014 .
    100. ^ IS: Relief for Peshmerga has arrived in Kobane. ORF, December 4, 2014, accessed on December 4, 2014 .
    101. ↑ a b "Everywhere in Kobani there are dead IS fighters" , Die Welt Online from January 21, 2015.
    102. ↑ Francesca Borri, Der Krieg im Krieg , taz.de from January 6, 2015.
    103. ↑ IS starts several offensives in Iraq , Die Zeit Online from January 6, 2015.
    104. ↑ Duygu Özkan: U-turn in Kobane: Kurds are about to be reconquered. Die Presse, January 19, 2015, accessed on January 20, 2015 .
    105. ↑ IS fighters expelled - border town Kobane is liberated - Focus Online from January 26, 2015
    106. ↑ Liberated Syrian City: The first inhabitants return to the ruins of Kobane. In: Spiegel Online . February 1, 2015, accessed June 9, 2018 .
    107. ↑ Duygu Özkan: Kurds recaptured numerous villages around Kobane. Salzburger Nachrichten , February 14, 2015, accessed on February 14, 2015 .
    108. ↑ Syria: Air strikes on IS targets on the Turkish border , accessed on September 24, 2014
    109. ↑ SPON: IS advance in Syria: Kobane must not fall , accessed on October 4, 2014
    110. ↑ Die Welt: US Alliance bombs IS positions near Kobani , accessed on October 4, 2014
    111. ↑ DoD: TARGETED OPERATIONS AGAINST ISIL TERRORISTS , accessed on October 14, 2014 (English)
    112. ↑ DoD: OPERATION INHERENT RESOLVE TARGETED OPERATIONS AGAINST ISIL TERRORISTS , accessed on October 16, 2014 (English)
    113. ↑ USA is dropping weapons for Kurds for the first time. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , October 20, 2014, accessed on October 20, 2014 .
    114. ↑ Kurds in Kobane confirm receipt of arms delivery. Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 20, 2014, accessed on August 26, 2020 .
    115. ^ DiePresse.com: Erdoğan's Fateful City Kobane , accessed on October 5, 2014
    116. ↑ N24: Suicide bomber is said to have killed many IS fighters , accessed on October 5, 2014
    117. ↑ Die Presse: Turkey: Hundreds of Kurds from Kobane arrested , accessed on October 9, 2014
    118. ↑ dtj: Turkey expels extremists, but probably treats IS fighters in hospitals , accessed on October 7, 2014
    119. ↑ Krone: Turkey rather “breeding ground” as an ally against IS , accessed on October 7, 2014
    120. ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Kurds feel betrayed by Ankara , accessed on October 7, 2014
    121. ↑ IS kills dozens of people in Kobane , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from June 25, 2015.
    122. ↑ IS invades Syrian Kobane again , Tagesspiegel from June 25, 2015.
    123. ^ Counterattack by IS on Kobane , Neue Zürcher Zeitung of June 25, 2015.
    124. ↑ Andrew Marszal: Turkey 'let Isil cross border to attack Kobane': as it happened . June 25, 2015, ISSN  0307-1235 ( telegraph.co.uk [accessed July 31, 2018]).
    125. ^ Syrian border town: Kurds circle IS fighters in Kobane , Spiegel Online from June 26, 2015.
    126. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt: Turkey's shady role in Syria , accessed on October 8, 2014
    127. ↑ der Standard: Ankara's outpost in Syria under pressure , accessed on October 9, 2014
    128. ↑ Turkish Foreign Minister: Published security meeting is a "declaration of war" | GERMAN TURKISH NEWS
    129. ↑ IS surrounds Turkish exclave , accessed on September 30, 2014
    130. ↑ Hundreds of thousands of Syrians flee the terror , accessed on October 4, 2014
    131. ↑ Case of alliance on Syrian soil ?: IS encircled Turkish exclave - n-tv.de
    132. ↑ The fight against IS is intensified , accessed on October 4, 2014
    133. ↑ schä. / Reuters: Turks clear holy graves for fear of IS. Frankfurter Allgemeine, February 22, 2015, accessed on February 22, 2015 .
    134. ^ Turkish Military Evacuates Soldiers Guarding Tomb in Syria. Retrieved February 22, 2015 .
    135. ↑ Die Zeit: USA concerned about possible use of poison gas in Iraq , accessed on October 25, 2014
    136. ↑ Der Spiegel: Chemical weapons plant captured by IS: useless sarin, small residues of mustard gas , accessed on October 25, 2014
    137. ↑ Turkey: Parliament allows military operations , accessed on October 2, 2014
    138. ↑ FAZ.net October 13, 2014: From the Cold War era
    139. ↑ Thurgauer Zeitung: IS jihadists advance - black flag on the edge of Kobane , accessed on October 6, 2014
    140. ↑ sueddeutsche.de: Erdoğan expects ISIS victory in Kobanê , accessed on October 7, 2014
    141. ^ Oe1: IS as a lesser evil , accessed on October 8, 2014
    142. ↑ tagesschau.de: PKK threatens Turkey with a new war ( memento of October 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 10, 2014
    143. ↑ ntv: IS fighters grapple with Kurds , accessed on October 11, 2014
    144. ↑ a b APA: USA may use Turkish bases , accessed on October 13, 2014
    145. ↑ FAZ.net October 7, 2014: Erdogan expects ISIS victory in Kobane , accessed on October 10, 2014
    146. ↑ FAZ.net October 13, 2014: Turkey releases military bases for air strikes . In: faz
    147. ↑ Fight against IS: Turkey denies agreement with USA . In: SPIEGEL ONLINE
    148. ↑ APA: Turkish fighter jets attacked PKK positions , accessed on October 14, 2014
    149. ↑ SPON: Turkey wants to bring Peshmerga fighters to Kobane , accessed on October 20, 2014
    150. ↑ Ankara avoids isolation . In: sueddeutsche.de
    151. ↑ cvh / pnh / fas / liw / mp / jba / flf / jr / ada: +++ IS terror in the news ticker +++: Erdogan criticizes US weapons drops. In: Focus Online . October 23, 2014, accessed October 14, 2018 .
    152. ↑ Deutschlandradio Kultur: Kobane will be a victim , accessed on October 11, 2014
    153. ↑ ORF: Many open questions , accessed on October 10, 2014
    154. ↑ Die Welt: Columns of smoke over Kobane , accessed on October 12, 2014
    155. ↑ NZZ-online, in relation to reuters / afp / dpa, October 15, 2014.
    156. ↑ APA: Kurds harass jihadists in Kobane , accessed on October 18, 2014
    157. ↑ Barzani Unites Syrian Kurds Against Assad - al-monitor.com
    158. ^ President Barzani Vows Help to Syrian Kurds Against Islamist Attacks - rudaw.net
    159. ^ President Barzani Slams PYD in Syria, Rejects Autonomy Declaration - rudaw.net
    160. ^ Rival Kurdish parties battle for power in Syria - al-monitor.com ( Memento from May 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
    161. ↑ Kurdistan president Barzani accuses Syrian Kurdish PYD of collaborating with Assad Regime - ekurd.net
    162. ↑ This group is part of the Peshmerga force on their way to Kobane in northern Syria - rudaw.net
    163. ↑ IS: Relief for Peshmerga in Kobane has arrived - news.ORF.at
    164. ↑ a b Syrian government: We support the Kurds. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 22, 2014, accessed on October 23, 2014 .
    165. ↑ Syria warns Turkey against military intervention. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , accessed on October 23, 2014 .
    166. ↑ Progress in the fight against terrorism - Syria warns of buffer zone. Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 15, 2014, accessed on August 26, 2020 .
    167. ↑ Kobane and IS: Steinmeier against UN mission in Syria - SPIEGEL ONLINE
    168. ↑ Greens for UN military action against IS. Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 13, 2014, accessed on August 26, 2020 .
    169. ↑ DIE LINKE: The United Nations must take the reins of action
    170. ↑ Compare Die Zeit from October 13, 2014 Turks against Kurds against Kurds Access on December 17, 2015.
    171. ↑ FAZ: At least 19 dead in demonstrations for Kobane in Turkey , accessed on October 18, 2014
    172. ^ Kurdish protests in northern Germany: injured in riots in Hamburg and Celle. Der Spiegel , October 8, 2014, accessed on October 23, 2014 .
    173. ↑ Questions and answers on the advance of ISIS - Why Kobane is so important ( Memento from October 8, 2014 on WebCite ) , stern.de, October 7, 2014, archived from the original .
    174. ↑ a b Islamic State crisis: Syrian Kurds battle to keep hold of strategic Kobane ( Memento from October 6, 2014 on WebCite ) (English). BBC News, October 4, 2014, by Güney Yıldız, archived from the original .
    175. ↑ "Islamic State" - the most powerful militia in the world ( memento from September 3, 2014 on WebCite ) , FAZ.net, by Markus Bickel, archived from the original .
    176. ↑ How Kurdish Militias Have Successfully Fought Off the Islamic State ( Memento of 3 September 2014 Webcite ) (English). Vice News , August 14, 2014, by Mutlu Çiviroğlu, archived from the original .
    177. ↑ a b c Why IS is holding on to the conquest of Kobanê ( memento from September 30, 2014 on WebCite ) , derStandard.at, September 29, 2014, archived from the original .
    178. ↑ Seufert: "Kobane symbolizes the future of the Kurds" ( memento from October 8, 2014 on WebCite ) , Deutsche Welle, Interview by Anne Allmeling with Günter Seufert, October 7, 2014, archived from the original .
    179. ↑ a b Fights in Syria: Kurds prepare for battle against IS ( Memento from September 22, 2014 on WebCite ) , Spiegel Online, September 22, 2014, by Raniah Salloum, archived from the original .
    180. ↑ a b Fight against IS terror - Why the West does not save Kobane ( memento from October 9, 2014 on WebCite ) , FAZ.net, October 8, 2014, by Rainer Hermann, archived from the original .
    181. ↑ Fight against the terrorist militia IS Kobane - the lost city ( memento from October 11, 2014 on WebCite ) , tagesspiegel.de, October 11, 2014, by Thomas Seibert, archived from the original .
    182. ↑ Jürg Bischoff: Kobane continues to resist the jihadists. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , October 12, 2014, accessed on October 13, 2014 .
    183. ↑ IS-Terror - That is why America will not save Kobane ( memento from October 10, 2014 on WebCite ) , FAZ.net, October 9, 2014, by Andreas Ross, archived from the original .
    184. ↑ Lorenzo Cremonesi: The war of women. Focus , October 13, 2014, accessed October 28, 2014 .
    185. ↑ "Is only spoken of Kobane" - Erdogan criticizes Western strategy . In: n-tv.de, October 31, 2014, accessed on November 2, 2014

    Coordinates: 36 ° 53 '24 "  N , 38 ° 21' 36"  E