Months of intense fighting have hollowed out the Syrian border town of Kobani. Wrecked
vehicles sit beside buildings reduced to piles of rubble, and the roads are
scarred by craters metres deep.
Sheets meant to hide residents from
snipers' sights still hang over streets littered with the bodies of alleged
Islamic State (ISIS Fighters)
Tired and tense Kurdish fighters patrol
near-deserted streets, and the risk of unexploded shells leaves the few
civilians who remain fearful of where to tread.
Kurdish forces said this week they had
taken full control of Kobani. Their victory, raising Kurdish flags where the
black symbols of Islamic State once flew, prompted celebration among the more
than 200,000 refugees who have fled to Turkey since the assault on the town
began in September.
Many are eager to return home and try
to rebuild their livelihoods, but there is little left of the town for them to
return to
Kobani, nestled in hills and separated
from Turkey by little more than a disused railway line, became a focal point
for the international struggle against Islamic State, partly because of the
heavy weaponry and number of fighters that the ultra-hardline Islamist group
poured into the battle.
With the help of daily air strikes by
US-led forces, air drops of weapons and ammunition, and fighters from the
Kurdish autonomous region in Iraq, Kobani's defenders managed to push out the
insurgents and declare a tentative victory on Monday (26 January).
Kurdish YPG fighters raised two fingers
in victory signs for journalists being escorted around Kobani, but a tense mood
still hung over the town.
"Mortar shells keep landing here.
Don't wander around, it's dangerous," cautioned one of the fighters,
guarding a central square, as a group of his fellow combatants patrolled
surrounding streets on motorbikes.
Islamic State supporters have denied
the group has been pushed out. Battles have continued in villages to the
southeast and southwest of Kobani. A senior US State Department official said
it was too soon to declare "mission accomplished".
Turkey's Radikal newspaper said a
mortar shell fired by IS militants landed near the Turkish border inside Kobani
on Thursday, wounding four civilians.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who
has been wary of supporting Syrian Kurds amid concern about a push for Kurdish
autonomy in northern Syria, questioned this week how much there was to
celebrate.
"Who will repair all those places
you bombed? Will those 200,000 who fled Kobani be able to go back? When they
are back, where will they
live?" he asked.
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