(4 Dec 2014) {VOICE-OVER}
AMID THE WASTELAND AND DESTRUCTION IN KOBANI, SYRIA... A SENSE OF CAMARADERIE AMONG THE TOWN'S DEFENDERS WHO HAVE DOGGEDLY FOUGHT OFF MILITANT ADVANCES FOR MORE THAN TWO MONTHS.
CALLING ONE ANOTHER "HEVAL" (he-VAL) - KURDISH FOR 'COMRADE' - THE MEN AND WOMEN IN KOBANI FIGHT WITH REVOLUTIONARY CONVICTION...VOWING TO LIBERATE WHAT THEY REGARD AS KURDISH LAND FROM ISLAMIC STATE GROUP MILITANTS.
(NATS)
OFTEN, MEMBERS OF THE SAME FAMILY CAN BE FOUND ON THE FRONT-LINES.
NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD SHIDA'S FATHER WAS A FIGHTER BEFORE HER... AFTER HE WAS KILLED, SHE DECIDED TO FOLLOW IN HIS FOOTSTEPS TO HONOR HIS EXAMPLE.
{SOUNDBITE: (Kurdish) Shida, Kurdish fighter, Women's Protection Unit (YPJ)}
"I will keep on doing what I am doing now. I will never leave the party. I will not allow the enemy to take away my land and its soil. I will not leave my land."
BACKED BY SMALL NUMBERS OF IRAQI PESHMERGA FORCES AND FREE SYRIAN ARMY REBELS, THE KURDISH FIGHTERS HAVE DISPLAYED SURPRISING RESILIENCE... HOLDING OUT AGAINST THE MORE EXPERIENCED JIHADISTS AND HANGING ON TO THEIR TERRITORY AGAINST ALL EXPECTATIONS.
{SOUNDBITE: (Kurdish) nickname "Zinar", real name not given, YPG fighter}
"We are fighting for freedom. Freedom isn't something you can easily get or something that someone just gives to you. Freedom is only achieved when you go out and get it yourself."
(NATS of gunfire as Abu Layla walks down street)
ABU LAYLA COMMANDS A FREE SYRIAN ARMY-LINKED GROUP IN KOBANI, MADE UP OF MORE THAN A HUNDRED FIGHTERS - MOSTLY ETHNIC ARABS AND TURKOMEN.
HE SAYS HE'S NOT FIGHTING FOR ANY PARTICULAR GROUP... BUT FOR A FREE AND DEMOCRATIC future.
{SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Abu Layla, Shams Al Shamal brigade commander}
"I'm fighting for a free democratic Syria, not an Islamic Syria but a free democratic Syria."
DESPITE THE DESTRUCTION AROUND HIM, ABU LAYLA SAYS HE'S PROUD OF WHAT HIS BRIGADE AND THE KURDISH FIGHTERS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH SO FAR...
AND WHILE THE PRIORITY RIGHT NOW IS GETTING RID OF THE ISLAMIC STATE GROUP, HE SAYS HE AND HIS FIGHTERS HAVE NOT LOST SIGHT OF THEir ultimate GOAL... TOPPLING PRESIDENT BASHAR ASSAD.
KELLY DASCHLE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
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