“Bottom line, we did not, and will not give up”

SHERVIN MUSTAFA- GANDI ALO/AFRIN

Popular resistance which lasted for 58 days manifested in many forms, the mothers were supplying their fighters and the youth with food, and even the elderly, carrying their light arms in confrontation of Turkish occupation, which destroyed everything with its planes.

The story of the citizen Mustafa Ahmed Khair was a good example for the resistance of the people, in the first raid of the Turkish warplanes, where he rose up and responded to the call to protect the homeland.

On January 20, 2018, at 16:00, pm, the sky of Afrin had turned into a dark sky, 72 military aircraft targeted Afrin city.

After the first raid what did Mustafa do?

Mustafa Ahmed from Qantara village in Mobata district, who graduated from Self-Defense Duty in the first course in 2015, and then completed his work in the sewing profession in one of the workshops in Mobata.

"On January 20, 2018, I was working in the workshop when we heard the sounds of warplanes coming out of the workshop with the other workers, the people were confused in the village, the planes were hovering in the sky and shelling indiscriminately, I did not know what to do, we knew there were planes bombing the area."

And he said, "After I was discharged of the Self-Defense Duty, I had the cell phone number of one of the commanders of the course, he was called Aldar," Ahmed said "I called him immediately and said," what should I do? "I want to do something and serve my city. He said, "you can come to Janders district, and I went with my uncle, and after our arrival, one of the military commanders said, "O uncle here the situation is dangerous, you can serve in your village and help the villagers."

Ahmed added, " when I was in the center of Janders, there were no military positions and points, the shells targeted at civilian's homes, in the early days I was helping the Kurdish Red Crescent in rescuing the wounded and restoring them from the rubble of destroyed houses and transferring them to the medical centers, in addition to the exhumation of the bodies of the civilian martyrs. When I remember this, I say to myself, only the civilians were being targeted by Turkish occupation.

They were waiting for hours without moving to stop the shelling and save the civilians and exhume the bodies," Ahmed said, adding that "the reconnaissance planes did not leave the sky, even the place where we were treating the wounded became the target of the occupation planes, we had to change our place. We moved to cellars, but we saw that the situation was aggravated, we divided ourselves into groups of several people and spread in the district, so that we get to the sites of bombing more quickly.

A child was martyred in his hands

One day, the bombardment intensified on the district, and targeted the schools, homes, mosques, resulted in killing and wounding dozens of children and women, and we were roaming in the streets to save the wounded, I heard the voice of a child, I rushed to carry him and remove the rubble, I thought he was wounded, he was with his family, where many of bodies were spread in the place, I could not save him and I took him to the ambulance, he martyred there.”

Ahmed completed " after days of the resistance, we thought we will not survive the heavy shelling, there were needs and necessities at some points to a car driver, so I said I could work in this aspect as well, I worked as a driver in the village of Korka Tahtani in Mobata district, I stayed there for a week.

The Fighters and Society Protection Forces(HPC) were on the frontline to protect the village he added, "the bombardment with all types of weapons, tanks and guns intensified, and many civilians were killed and the residents were forced to flee to the backward villages Korka village and the surrounding villages became a military zone”.

The mercenary gangs intensified the bombardment when they approached from the village, and their snipers were stationed in the hill, my friend Joan and I were transporting the wounded from the village. I do not remember how they targeted my friend who was saving the wounded until they hit him in the heart and he was martyred then.

After the violent clashes and the resistance of the fighters, the mercenaries occupied the village of Korka, it was very dangerous to stay in the village with barbaric gangs, so we headed to the valley to protect ourselves, we stayed there for two hours, the warplanes were hovering and shelling the village, we could not get up or move.

From saving civilians to helping fighters

Ahmed's story did not end in the villages of Mobata, so he had to go to the village of Tirmisha in Shia after leaving the village of Korka Tahtani, "there were not a large number of civilians," he said, "the village was severely shelled, and many civilians were martyred and some of them fled to nearby villages." I went to deliver food and ammunition to fighters on the fronts, where no one could reach them. The village was being sieged by Turkish occupation and had to go to another village.

We moved to the villages of Habbo, Sariya, Mamela, Shitka, Mirkan and Qakhera, where we could move- the fighters were carrying out military operations with full strength. There were wounded and martyrs among the units. I was moving quickly on the fronts and transporting the wounded and the martyrs to Avrin Hospital in the center of Afrin city despite the intense shelling.

In Mobata and Shia villages resistance which lasted 46 to 47 days the fighters showed great resistance despite the siege which was imposed on Mobata district.

We resisted with honor

Ahmed said, "Whatever I say or describe, what we have experienced and what I have seen, the destruction, the wounded and martyrs, besides the great resistance, indescribable, we have lost many of our loved ones, our comrades and our relatives."

Ahmed continued his work in helping civilians and fighters until he arrived in the city of Afrin and helped rescuing civilians in the massacre of Mahmudiya and Trenda on March 16, the day the streets of Afrin filled with blood as he described it.

"Without any justification, we as the owners of this land must meet the nation's call and devote ourselves to its service and we will always serve our identity and our existence, wherever we are, bottom line, we did not and will not surrender to the enemy," Ahmed Mustafa said.

(T/S)

ANHA