"Kobane A Town too far?" Kurdish leader's cry for help in town besieged by Islamic State.

"Kobane A Town too far?" Kurdish leader's cry for help in town besieged by Islamic State. (JPost).

Anwar Musalem, a Kurdish leader from the besieged Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, spoke to Ma’ariv Hashavua by telephone this week.

“If we receive help, we can push them back,” Anwar Musalem, a Kurdish leader from the besieged Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, told us by telephone this week.

An attorney by trade, Musalem is one of the leaders of the Kurdish Defense Council. He is also one of the few local council members who have remained in Kobani in order to fend off Islamic State invaders.

In an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post’s sister publication Ma’ariv Hashavua, he told this reporter and Yasser Okbi that “the problem is that Islamic State has heavy weaponry.”

“In recent days, we saw T-57 tanks and Hummers on the outskirts of the town,” he said.

“We are being shelled with heavy artillery.”

Musalem said that thus far Islamic State fighters are occupying 40 percent of the town, particularly the suburbs, though they have been unsuccessful in gaining control of the city center.

“In the last week, they’ve sent truck bombs into the city center,” he said. “We are up against a superior fighting force that numbers over 10,000 men. Islamic State has also enlisted criminals from nearby regions, promising to give them the best houses in the city center if they join in the fighting. But we have managed to repel them. Hundreds of bodies [of Islamic State fighters] are scattered in the city center.”

Musalem declined to give a number as to how many Kurdish fighters are taking part in the defense of Kobani.

“You have to understand,” he said. “We have no interest in divulging military information to the terrorists.”

Kurdish women are also taking up arms and enlisting in the cause. The commander of the all-female units told Asharq al-Awsat this week that 500 women were fighting “at the head of the pack.”

“If we receive military aid, with an emphasis on anti-tank weapons, ammunition and humanitarian aid food, and medicine, the town won’t fall, and ultimately we will prevail,” Musalem said.

According to Musalem, the town of Kobani, which lies just one kilometer from the Turkish border, numbers 15,000 Kurds, 700 of whom are elderly who either refuse to flee or are physically incapable of crossing the border. On the Turkish side of the border, there are hundreds of Kurds willing to aid their brethren, but the authorities have refused to allow them to cross over.


This is Turkish hypocrisy at its worst. Throughout the course of the civil war, Turkish authorities, including the military and other security services, knowingly permitted thousands of volunteers from around the world – including 30 Israeli Arabs – to traverse its territory and join rebel and insurgent forces in Syria and Iraq. These volunteers were primarily interested in joining Islamic State. Read the full interview here. Related:

"@GudawEnglish: Interview With YPG Commander: ISIS Has Lost In Kobanê #twitterkurds http://t.co/Uegrg6uPMn pic.twitter.com/GXeRfwqxrL" #kobane

— Berhem (@berhem) October 18, 2014