Ivana Hoffmann a german Woman fighting with Peshmerga
forces during clashes against #ISIS terrorists
near the town of Tel Temir in #Hasakah province, northeastern
#Syria. Ms. Hoffmann had been fighting
for months in the ranks of the Kurdish Women Protection Units (#YPJ).
“Comrade Hoffmann was martyred during clashes
against terrorists in the Assyrian countryside of Tel Temir,” YPJ female
fighter Aylan Khalil told ARA News. “She always insisting to be in the front lines
during battles,” Khalil said. “She left her country (Germany) to join us and fight
against enemies of humanity, the barbarian group of #Daesh (IS).”
Hoffman reportedly died over the weekend, when IS
militants intensified their offensive against positions of the YPJ and the
Popular Protection Units (YPG) in the countryside of Tel Temir.
The radical group had taken over several Assyrian
villages near Tel Temir two weeks ago. Since then, the Kurdish forces and some
Assyrian fighters formed a joint military force and started combating the group
in the countryside of Tel Temir.
Hoffman is the third western fightier to die while
helping the Kurdish Pershmerga fight the Islamic State #ISIL #daeshbags. The other two were a
British and an Australian who were also fighting with the Kurdish Peshmerga #YPG
forces. Over 100 Western fighters have joined the Kurdish
forces in Syria, including Americans, French, Spanish and Dutch fighters, among
other nationalities.
From the chaos of the Syrian Revolution the existence of a radical experiment in democracy has slowly emerged. The project in Rojava, in the north of Syria, has been instigated by the Democratic Union Party (the PYD) and its militias the People’s Protection Units (The YPG), and the all-female Women’s Protection Units (The YPJ), in alliance with the Turkish Kurdistan Workers’ Party (the PKK). The PKK itself appears to have experienced its own (r)evolution, with the conversion of its leader Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned by the Turks since 1999, away from the desire to create a Kurdish State and instead adopting an idea of “libertarian municipalism” inspired by social ecologist Murray Bookchin. Instead of a highly centralised state, which was once its aim, the PKK now claims that it sees its aims for the Kurds to be living in free, self-governing communities, based on direct democracy and paying no heed to national borders.[i]
Three non-contiguous autonomous areas or cantons, Efrin, Cizire, and Kobane, have been set up. In every canton there exists a Legislative Assembly, an Executive Assembly, a Constitutional Assembly, and Regional Assemblies, as proscribed under a written collective political structure (the Social Contract).[ii] Delegates to the Assemblies are elected with an ethnic balance reflecting the population of the area, and guaranteeing a 40 per cent female presence, and a model of co-presidency means each political entity always has both a female and a male president.
After visiting the area in December 2014, Janet Biehl described how power flows from the bottom upwards in this system through several tiers, namely the neighbourhood, district, city, and canton. All levels are made up of delegates whose role is only to convey the wishes of the people to the next level up.[iii] Saleh Muslim Mohamed, co-president of the PYD, has described how this system is leading to the education and politicising of the people, “You have to reject the idea that you have to wait for some leader to come and tell the people what to do,” he explains, “and instead learn to exercise self-rule as a collective practice…The people themselves educate each other. When you put 10 people together and ask them for a solution to a problem or propose them a question, they collectively look for an answer. I believe in this way they will find the right one. This collective discussion will make them politicised.”[iv]
“Free Kurds do not recognize borders”. Image from http://roarmag.org/2014/07/rojava-autonomy-syrian-kurds/
Some anarchists have dismissed the experiment as merely another statist project creating a new ruling class and government. The link with the PKK in particular has meant that the situation has been problematic for some; for example, the Anarchist Federation has criticised Ocalan’s Stalinist past and doubted his commitment to radical democracy, and anti-capitalist ideas.[v] Also, they point out the negative aspects of a planned dual structure which would see the assemblies running alongside a parliament based along western democratic lines.
Other commentators though, notably the anarchist anthropologist David Graeber, have been more accepting of the project, and argued that it is revolutionary and offering an example to an alternative way of organising the world.[vi] There is also a viewpoint that while the Rojavan project may not be anarchist, it is worthy of support for it’s democratic confederalism opens up space for further changes, and could be inspiring for rebels elsewhere.[vii]
This is an incredibly brief overview of a situation that has generated a huge amount of words over the last few weeks. Arguments have been flowing back and forth over the question of whether anarchists should be supportive of the Rojava project. For those interested, the resources below may help shed some light on the various discussions and points of view.
Further reading:
About
Useful article describing the workings of the democratic confederalism of Rojava:
A link to a book length examination of Rojava based around interviews by members of a solidarity group who briefly visited the area in 2011, which, while being clearly from a perspective sympathetic to the PKK, provide thought provoking glimpses into the practical implementation of a new left vision:
A couple of useful articles giving an overview and explanation of the adoption of Bookchin’s ideas by the PKK under Ocalan’s direction and a brief sketch of their implementation in Rojava:
Kurdish YPG forces have seized a hill inside the Syrian province of Raqqa, the Islamic State (Isis) Syrian stronghold, after deadly clashes.
Kurdish troops have taken Baghdak Hill south of the border town Kobani which is situated within Raqqa province. IS has been driven from Kobani by the YPG and the all-female YPJ Kurdish forces, and assisted by US-led air strikes.
YPG YPJ and FSA fighters form a joint command to attack ISIS in Raqqa
The jihadist group established its de facto capital in the city of Raqqa last year after seizing vast swaths of land straddling between Iraq and Syria. In recent months the city has been pounded by warplanes from the US-led coalition.
At least 35 IS fighters and four YPG members had been killed on Sunday (15 February) in fighting near Kobani.
The Kurds have taken over at least 163 villages around the border of Kobane, which became key in the international efforts to defeat IS. Several hundred rebel fighters joined the Kurds in their effort against the Sunni militants.
The #YPG press centre claimed that 18 Daesh / ISIS / ISIL militants were captured alive.
ANF - KOBANÊ 30.01.2015 15:00:15
Following the liberation of Kobanê on the 134th day of the resistance against ISIS gangs, the Kobanê Canton administration has held a meeting to take effective decisions for the rebuilding of the war-torn city, while the operations of YPG/YPJ forces to liberate the villages continue.
The executives of the Canton held a press conference at the Azadiya Square to announce the decisions taken for the rebuilding process. Kobanê Canton Prime Minister Enwer Müslim said a commission had been set up to carry out a survey across the urban area to assess the scope of the damage and to determine the needs of rebuilding as well as to conduct international relations.
“The liberation of Kobanê coincides with the first anniversary of its being declared an autonomous canton. We have achieved victory, and have set up a commission to determine and assess the scope of the damage and to start a process of rebuilding”, said the Kobanê PM, adding that the commission consists of engineers and other experts in urban planning.
Müslim said the commission will be in touch with international NGOs as well as states, adding that they expect aid and support for the rebuilding of Kobanê, where victory had been gained in the war for the defence of the values of humanity. Enwer Müslim called on all NGOs and aid organisations to provide support and to send aid for the rebuilding process in Kobanê.
Kurdish peshmerga fighters on the outskirts of Mosul. Photograph: Reuters
Kurdish fighters backed by coalition air strikes have seized large swaths of territory from Islamic State fighters in northern Iraq, including a road used by Isis to supply the key city of Mosul.
In a major offensive launched on Wednesday, the peshmerga have fought their way to within 12 miles of the city centre and cut off a road that connects Mosul to Tal Afar and Sinjar.
In recent days the Kurds have retaken a 185 sq mile area of Sinjar province, west of Mosul, putting Isis on the back foot and tightening the noose around the city.
There is growing speculation that Iraqi government troops may be gearing up for an attack on Mosul, which jihadist fighters have occupied since June when they advanced rapidly across Iraq’s north.
Until this week, Islamist militants were able to transfer goods, petrol and military equipment from eastern Syria into Mosul, Iraq’s second city and the biggest urban centre under their control. The Kurds have now shut off the city from three sides. They also now control several key villages and intersections.
“I don’t think anyone would envy the situation the people of Mosul are in,” Masrour Barzani, the head of Kurdistan’s regional security council, said on Wednesday. “The terror of Isis is too much for anyone to handle.”
Barzani predicted that Mosul would soon be “liberated”, and he said recent Kurdish advances had significantly reduced Isis’s freedom of movement.
On Thursday residents said conditions in Mosul had dramatically worsened. Once known as a cradle of multiculturalism in Iraq, Mosul has turned into a city where executions and stonings are carried out on a regular basis and residents are deprived of basic rights and services. Click here for the rest of the Article
A Daesh terrporist holds up a Daesh flag on a street in Mosul in June 2014.Photograph: Reuters
Since the main fighting between Daesh and the Kurdish defenders of the YPG and YPJ began it has been a hard fight. Hardest on the Kurds who were blocked by Turkey at every turn until finally in November when the Turkish Regime allowed 150 Peshmerga fighters, weapons, and armaments into Kobani from across the turkish Boarder.
Article from bloomberg below:
At one point during the fighting, Islamic State controlled more than half the town, Rami Abdurrahman, SOHR’s chief, said by phone. The Kurdish resistance are now better armed and have been bolstered by U.S.-led airstrikes on militant positions. The Kurds now have control over 80 percent of Kobani, he said.
The city’s fall would’ve extended Islamic State’s grip on territory along Syria’s border with NATO-member Turkey and delivered a blow to Kurdish autonomy in the region.
The Syrian Kurds took advantage of the power vacuum created by the country’s civil conflict, which began in March 2011, to declare self-rule in November 2013.
To contact the reporter on this story: Donna Abu-Nasr in Beirut atdabunasr@bloomberg.net
I love this video! Always great to see the Brave Kurds who seem to be the only people
fighting ISIS. What we need now is western backing for the Kurds. #kobani under siege by #ISIS terrorists #Daesh and #kobane defenders the #YPG and #YPJ barve #Kurds Kurdistan Kurdish Nation. Syrian town ayn al-Arab, Syria on #Turkey boarder.
The terror group ISIS has reportedly lost its control of the majority of Kobani, a border town in northern Syria which the militants have fought regional Kurdish forces over for months, according to an activist group and a Kurdish official.
Kurdish leader Idriss Nassan told the Associated Press that, with the help of U.S. and allied airstrikes, his fighters had wrested control of 80 percent of Kobani, and all of the key central zone where the police and other agencies are based.
“The advance has become faster and the airstrikes are more intense,” he told the AP, adding that his fighters could control the whole city “hopefully within days.”
Meanwhile, further south in ISIS’ stronghold of Deir Ezzor province, at least three members of the group have been attacked in recent days under circumstances which suggest possible vigilantes.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group which relies on information from an extensive network of activists and informants on the ground in Syria, the decapitated body of one of the top figures in ISIS’ pseudo police force was found in the town of al-Mayadeen, in rural Deir Ezzor province. His body bore signs of torture.
“We do not know whether Islamic State killed him or whether it was local people or other fighters,” the Observatory’s Rami Abdulrahman told the Reuters news agency, using ISIS’ own name for the group.
Also in al-Mayadeen, another ISIS fighter was run over in an apparent deliberate hit and run attack, leaving him in critical condition. A third member of the group was attacked by two masked men on a motorcycle. He was repeatedly beaten with a metal stick on the head and sustained life-threatening injuries.
The rudimentary nature of the attacks in al-Mayadeen suggest they may not have been carried out by rival Syrian rebel groups, or ISIS itself, which has frequently executed its own members accused of betraying the group.
In January 1941, General Wavell, commander of British forces in north Africa, created a unit called A Force, which was dedicated to counter-intelligence and deception. By this stage, deception was playing a major part in the war effort, following Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s maxim that ‘in war, truth should be accompanied by a bodyguard of lies’. In some cases there would be a concerted effort to mislead the enemy with a single convincing deception; in others, the aim would be to create confusion by suggesting a range of plausible alternatives.
I will be adding many resources of what COIN Strategies that I see being implemented and ones that need to be implemented. Lots of stuff on #Kobani, #Kobane, #aynalarab, #aynalislam, #YPG, #IS, #ISIS, #ISIL, #YPJ, #yezedi, #COIN, #counterinsurgency,
