As the battle for Kobani continues to rage for a second month, Kurdish fighters have conceived a smuggling operation to get themselves into the city illegally from Turkey to confront the Islamic State militants swarming the Syrian border city.
READ MORE: Turkey wants anti-Assad army in control of Kobani – Turkish PM
“As they set off on their perilous mission, the few kilometers that separate us from Kobani could prove to be the most dangerous of their lives,” RT’s Paula Slier reported from the Turkey-Syria border.
The fighters move carefully, under the cover of night, and with
several tactical plans to remedy potential complications in the
journey. “If we don’t go to protect Kobani, who will?”
one Kurd told RT before illegally crossing the border under the
cover of night.
“Sometimes it can take one to two hours, but it really
depends on the situation. If we see a patrol, we hide, we wait
until morning,” Simcor Karamoch, who oversees smuggling
operations, told RT.
The Syria-Turkish border town has been besieged by IS fighters
who still have control of large parts of it. However, Ankara has
so far been reluctant to let the Kurdish fighters into Syria.
Turkey is currently harboring some 200,000 refugees who have been
moving in the opposite direction in order to escape the conflict.
Karamoch spoke of how to overcome the problems crossing borders
in conflict zones, such as how to apply continued pressure to a
mine you may have accidentally stepped on.
“When you know something has happened, ask one of the others to
bring a stone," he said, imparting potentially life-saving
advice. "Use a belt to swap the stone for your boot, then
run.”
Another smuggling tactic is pretending to border guards that they
are trying to escape Kobani if intercepted en route. “If
Turkish police see us, we say we are from Kobani, and we forgot
something in our house and are trying to get to it – usually they
beat us and let us go.”
“But if ISIS catches us, they cut off our heads – no question
about that.”
The same tactic of lying about the side one was trying to get to
was used by people attempting to cross the Berlin Wall to the
West.
Additionally, Kurdish fighters have introduced a password system
to remedy narrow misses. A “security word” which has to
be repeated three times is used to identify fellow anti-IS
fighters.
“They must give you the security word. If they don’t – shoot
them, they could be your enemy,” Karamoch said.
Legitimate troops are also being sent to the region to fight IS
militants. On Tuesday, Syrian Kurdish leader Saleh Moslem told
Reuters that some 150 peshmerga (Kurdish-Iraqi) forces were
crossing into Turkey to eventually head to Kobani.