War with Isis: Wounded Kurdish forces count the cost of battling militants in Syria

[Jefferson23]

Fighters speak about life on a frontline where they have been left isolated

A squad of Syrian Kurdish fighters was ambushed as it advanced through a grove on the outskirts of a village held by Islamic State (IS) fighters near al-Hasakah in the Kurdish enclave in north-east Syria. Azad Judy, an 18-year-old Kurd, recalls: “We had divided into three groups that were trying to attack the village when we were hit by intense fire from behind and from the trees on each side of us.”

Azad, who comes from Nusaybin just across the border in Turkey, was hit by a single bullet in the spine. He says: “After being wounded, I tried to crawl away and then another fighter came and gave me first aid and an injection.” Azad is now lying in bed in the Shahid Khavat military hospital in the Syrian Kurdish city of al-Qamishli with a despairing look on his face because he may suspect that his legs are paralysed for ever and he will never walk again.

In a week during which the Syrian and Iraqi regular armies were defeated by IS at Palmyra and Ramadi, the lightly armed Syrian Kurdish militia, known as the YPG, won an important victory. It captured a strategically placed mountain known as Abdulaziz in Arabic and Kazwan in Kurdish, which had been a heavily defended IS stronghold. Supported by US air strikes, 1,000 YPG fighters surrounded the mountain whose lower slopes are covered by pine woods. The battle started on 6 May and ended last Wednesday when the remaining IS forces withdrew after suffering heavy losses. The Kurds say they buried 300 bodies of IS fighters and believe more were carried away.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/war-with-isis-wounded-kurdish-forces-count-the-cost-of-battling-militants-in-syria-10272473.html

[GGJohn]

1. The Kurds are fierce fighters, especially the women fighters,

ISIL fear the women, being killed in battle by a women is a big no no in ISIL's mind.
I'm anti war, but I'm leaning towards directly arming the Kurds so they can go toe to toe against these ISIL monsters and thoroughly defeat them.