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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Top Kurdish officials and military commanders in the Kurdistan Region and northeast Syria (Rojava) celebrated on Tuesday the sixth anniversary of Kobane city from the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group.
“I congratulate all the people of Kurdistan and all freedom lovers in the world for the anniversary of the legendary liberation of Kobane,” Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said in a tweet, thanking the international coalition for their support.
The Region’s prime minister Masrour Barzani said “it was a transcendent moment that brought together the Kurdish people against a common enemy,” referring to the deployment of Peshmerga fighters to fight ISIS alongside the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
“It is a powerful reminder of what we can achieve through unity and cooperation,” he added.
ISIS militants seized control of swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014. In mid-September that year, ISIS began laying siege to Kobane, in Syria’s Aleppo province, taking village after village as they slowly tightened a noose around the city. Thousands of civilians fled across the border to Turkey.
With the help of the coalition and Peshmerga forces, the YPG defeated ISIS militants in the city on January 26, 2015. This was the first major military defeat of ISIS, and Kobane made headlines around the world, becoming a symbol of victory over the terror group.
The YPG is the backbone of the multi-ethnic Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - the coalition's only ally on the ground in Syria.
“We will continue our struggle so that the hopes of our people in Afrin, Gire Spi (Tel Abyad) and Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) come true,” said SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi, referring to three Kurdish-majority towns invaded by Turkey and its Syrian proxies in 2018 and 2019.
The weeks of battle to free Kobane left some 70 percent of the city destroyed. The local population and authorities have slowly brought life back to the city, reconstructing houses and roads and restoring basic services.
Coalition spokesperson Col. Wayne Marrotto, remembered the liberation in a tweet, saying, “On January 26, 2015 Kurdish fighters, supported by @CJTFOIR air strikes, liberated Kobani & showed that Daesh wasn’t invincible & denied them a strategic objective. Congratulations to the Kurds for being an example of a reliable, & capable partner.”
He later told Rudaw that “Daesh [ISIS] is resilient and remains a serious challenge but relentless pressure by our partner forces in the ISF, SDF, and Peshmerga forces will prevent a re-emergence of Daesh.”
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