Stories of Resistance of Age -4

A mobile group of 6 fighters defeated hundreds of mercenaries

GHANDI ALO TOLIN HASSEN

The proverb says that abundance overcome courage, but a small and mobile group of YPG and YPJ fighters broke that rule within the Resistance of the Age. With their courage and few number, they dealt the army of the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries despite their large numbers and equipment harsh strikes and forced them to retreat in many villages of Afrin within the first stage of the Resistance of the Age.

Another story of resistance among thousands of stories of resistance in Afrin recounted by the fighter in the ranks of YPG, and a member of the mobile group. The fighter Zehr al-Din Kobanî who joined the Protection Units in 2015 and gained good experience in the fighting to participate in many battles against the mercenary gangs attacking Rojava and North Syria. He participated in the resistance against the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries in a small group of six fighters, a mobile group that used to support all fronts and its main task was to carry out special operations against the occupation army and mercenaries.

This group had its presence on many fronts starting from the villages of Belbelê district in the far north of Afrin canton to the villages of Şêrawa district in the far south.

6 fighters cleared Sheikh Khorzeh from hundreds of mercenaries

The fighter Zehr al-Din Kobanî describes the resistance demonstrated by their group in Sheikh Khorzeh village of Belbelê district  and says, "On the 8th day of the Resistance of the Age, we were asked to form a mobile group whose fighters had the benefit of combat experiences, combat operations and speed of movement," he added, "We formed a group of six fighters, a fighter from YPJ called Enkizk was among us, and then we went to Belbelê border where there was intensive shelling on the village of Sheikh Khorzeh.

When we went to the village to support our comrades, we received news that our comrades withdrew from the village due to the intensity of air raids and artillery shelling on the village so we took our positions in the hills near the village, and on the first day of the entry of the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries in the village, we decided to launch a special operation against them before they took their positions and fortifications in the village.

We prepared ourselves and carried our weapons and ammunition and infiltrated through the valleys and forest lands surrounded to the village until we reached its outskirts. There, we distributed ourselves to two groups and decided to enter from two axes to the village.

We saw the occupation army and the mercenaries spread among the houses of the village destroying the doors and entering them with the intention of looting and stealing. It was clear that they were not ready to fight because they did not expect to carry out such a rapid operation against them after all the intensive shelling which targeted the village.

The mercenaries were not working to fortify their positions because their main concern was the occupation of any village, the inspection of all houses in addition to looting and searching for spoils, and therefore we began targeting the gangs of the occupation army and mercenaries from two axes and we also benefited from our knowledge of the geography of the village. Our movements among the houses and streets were accurate as we were dealing blows to them and moving quickly to new points to disperse the enemy.

In the course of this battle which lasted for about half an hour, we killed and wounded dozens of them and we forced the others to flee the village although reconnaissance planes and warplanes were hovering over the village, but they could not bombard us because the Turkish army and mercenaries were still in the village. After they fled, the aircraft began to bomb the village again intensively, and then we withdrew from the village again and hid on the edge among the trees.

This process has had a great impact on the beginning of the resistance because it destroyed the morale of the occupation army and its mercenaries, while raised our morale.

After several hours of continuous shelling by the air force, artillery and tanks on the village, the occupation army and the mercenaries returned in an attempt to advance towards the village. They thought that the shelling killed all of us. We stayed in our positions among the trees and highlands near the village. The fighter Enkizk was advancing every period and monitoring the movements of mercenaries. She came back and told us that the enemy were entering the village again accompanied by armored vehicles and tanks, and we waited until they entered the village and then we decided to carry out another operation. We put a plan to infiltrate and waited until night came. We moved to the village and entered behind the enemy lines this time, and attacked at the same time several points where the mercenaries were stationed in and threw them grenades and then opened fire machine guns on them, and the sounds of bullets raised again.

The Turkish occupation army and the mercenaries mobilized again and were in a hysterical state. They fled in all directions and did not know from which direction we attacked them. We were hunting them easily and moved quickly from one place to another. In this way, they could not take advantage of the tanks and armored vehicles because they did not work in such confrontations. After we inflicted them with heavy losses, we forced them to flee after heavy losses.

We stayed in the village until dawn and then a squadron of warplanes preceded by reconnaissance planes came and began to launch crazy raids on the village with missiles, tanks and artillery. It was clear that our operation hurt them a lot and frustrated them so they resorted to the policy of scorched earth intensifying the bombing in all forms on the village.

Zehr al-Din added, "We had no choice but to withdraw from the village because we cannot do anything in the face of that squadron of warplanes. We withdrew in three batches as each two fighters would go out together so that the reconnaissance planes would not observe us. After the departure of four fighters, two of our comrades remained. When they withdrew, a shell landed next to them and they were martyred, this was a very difficult moment for us, and we decided not to go back to our points but to take the martyrs' corpses with us, and indeed, we returned to them pulled their corpses out of the village and carried them with us.

Reforming the group and Akka hill ambush

 Zehr al-Din continued, "We took a few short break and we got instructions to reform the group again, and head this time to Akka hill in Belbelê district. We hurried to form the group by adding other fighters to it. We went to that village. When we arrived the village, violent clashes and shelling were ongoing on Akka hill village, and then we received news of the martyrdom of 4 fighters, including two fighters from the YPJ on the hill after they showed heroic resistance in the face of the occupation army and mercenaries.

And we decided to go to the hill and to get the corpses of the martyrs and revenge for our comrades. We equipped ourselves and headed towards the hill and we were supported by another group of fighters. By the evening, we managed to reach the top of the hill and there were only two fighters continuing the repletion after the martyrdom of their comrades. We asked them and other fighters from our group to transport the martyrs’ corpses and to return to the village.

We stayed 4 fighters, among us the fighter Enkizk repelling the enemy attacks. After midnight, heavy rains fell and darkness overwhelmed the area and we have been no longer seen around us to several meters, while the occupation army and its mercenaries were continuing to bombard the hill and try to progress and control, then we decided to ambush the mercenaries. At that time, our whole bodies were covered with mud. We descended from the hill and hid on its edges and each of us laid down under a tree, and we waited until the mercenaries would enter the hill.

After the occupation army and mercenaries noticed that no bullet was being fired from the hill, they believed that we were either martyred or fled, they sent a group of mercenaries toward the hill, and I saw the mercenaries moving slowly up the hill, it was clear of their movements the extent of fear that they suffered from, and they began climbing the hill until they reached the summit, and when they were assured that no one is on the hill, they began firing bullets in the air and were happy of controlling the hill.

After a few minutes, we moved and climbed the hill from the back and we climbed slowly because of the rain and the large formation of mud was impeding the movement.

Before we reached the top of the hill, we distributed in several directions and attacked the mercenaries, opened fire machine guns at them and threw them a number of grenades, and within a few minutes, we killed more than 10 mercenaries.

Before dawn, we gathered all the weapons and ammunition of the mercenaries and carried them with us and withdrew from the hill towards the village because we knew that the hill will be bombed by aerial raids by the day, and indeed as soon as we evacuated the hill, the military aircraft launched several raids on the hill.

The resistance in Şêrawa villages and capture of 2 mercenaries in a special operation

Zehr al-Din continued and said, "After the resistance of Akka hill and the blows we dealt the mercenaries, the command sent another group to our place and asked us to go to Şêrawa district which is rugged, mountainous and rocky and that would help us to move easily, hide and ambush. When we reached the district, they sent us to Khalata village which was under attack by the occupation and its mercenaries. We were sent as supporters to our comrades who were repelling the attacks in the village.

We entered the battle and the occupation army and its mercenaries reached one side of the village after they destroyed it with artillery and air raids. We decided to go behind one of the mercenary points and carry out a special operation against them. We moved after midnight and hid behind the rocks and trees and managed to reach at one of the mercenary points on the outskirts of the village.

When we reached the point, we saw 2 mercenaries only, so we decided to capture them instead of killing them because if we fired them, the rest of the mercenaries might feel them and clash with us. We were divided into two axes and moved towards the point. We surprised the two mercenaries and put the nozzles of our weapons on their heads and asked them not to do any move or make any sound. We blindfolded them, took their weapons, ammunition and took them to the points of our comrades.

There, we asked the mercenaries why they were attacking Afrin with the Turkish occupation. At first, they claimed that the Turkish occupation had forced them to do so, and then they said that Turkey had seduced them and said that everyone who participated in the battle of Afrin would get lands, a car and a house and they began crying and begging us not to kill them. We then handed them over to the competent authorities.

The resistance of Burj Haider and the martyrdom of some of the group's fighters in Basofan

We went to Burj Haidar village which is also related to Şêrawa district, and we took our places at points on the outskirts of Burj Haidar village to confront the attacks of the occupation army and its mercenaries. We stayed there for three days. We did not allow them to progress towards the village.

They resorted to bombard with aerial raids and artillery shelling and they targeted the village which was inhabited by the population. As a result of the shelling, 6 civilians were martyred so we went to the village to save the civilians and take out the martyrs and the wounded. We opened safe roads for the civilians under the bombardments and drove them out to safe places. Our comrades took their points in the village and continued to face the attacks. Then, our group was sent to go to the hill of Basofan village to liberate it.

And we decided to infiltrate among the trees and rocks to the vicinity of the hill and hit the mercenaries stationed there, and we divided ourselves into three groups, each two fighters to move on a side and we moved together. During our infiltration, we were monitored by a Turkish reconnaissance plane and it began hovering over us, and therefore we distributed and hid behind the rocks and under the trees, the drone had determined the point where I hid at with the fighter and shelled us. I was exposed to some injuries, but the fighter did not wounded, and rushed to save me and pulled me to the cliff behind a large rock for the aircraft to not bombard me again. Then, we saw the aircraft looking for the rest of our comrades, the fighter Enkizk moved from place to place to attract the attention of the drone from the far. The reconnaissance plane began to follow her and as it bombed, she jumped under a large rock and remained below it. I was bleeding and stayed in my place. It did not take several minutes when the air force came and launch intensive raids on the whole area where we were in.

Then our comrade communicated with the rest of our comrades and asked them for help. Some of our comrades came, took us with them and brought the corpses of our comrades who were martyred. They took me to Afrin Hospital for receiving the medical treatment. After a few days, the occupation army and the mercenaries arrived at the outskirts of Afrin and the end of the first stage of the Resistance of the Age and the start of the second stage were announced.

Zehr al-Din Kobanî concluded by saying, "The battles we were engaged in were not easy, but we have promised since our joining the protection units to protect our land and our people against all enemies. Today, we renew our pledge to our people and our martyrs to avenge them and continue the resistance and liberate Afrin at all costs."

A.H

ANHA