Bringing out the bodies: Remains of ISIS fighters are dragged from rubble of Kobane as residents stream back into flattened Syrian city after devastating 4-month siege
- WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
- ISIS terrorists' bodies are still littering the streets of Kobane after the militants lifted their four month siege
- Committee has been established to remove hundreds of rotting corpses to avoid the spread of disease
- Kurdish clean-up committee is insisting on giving the dead militants a proper burial despite their atrocities
- Brave YPG and YPJ troops forced ISIS out of Kobane in January. Now hundreds of displaced citizens are returning
Incredible
new images have emerged showing the massive clean operation of Kobane -
the northern Syrian city that was besieged by Islamic State militants
for more than four months.
Having
being chased out of the city by brave local resistance fighters and
sustained U.S.-led airstrikes, the terrorists' rotting bodies now litter
the streets of the predominantly Kurdish city.
Despite
the militants having brought rape and massacre to the local population
and leaving the once-bustling ancient city as little more than
rubble-strewn ruins, the Kurds insist on giving dead ISIS fighters a
proper burial wherever possible.
But
with collapsed buildings at every turn, the locals face a race against
time to clear the rapidly decaying corpses from beneath the rubble and
ensure disease and sickness does not hit the hundreds of Kobane
residents now returning to their homes in the wake of ISIS' retreat.
Scroll down for video
Clean-up: Having being chased out of
the city by brave local resistance fighters and sustained U.S.-led
airstrikes, the terrorists' rotting bodies now litter the streets of the
predominantly Kurdish city
Mess:
Despite the militants having brought rape and massacre to the local
population and leaving the once-bustling ancient city as little more
than rubble-strewn ruins, the Kurds insist on giving dead ISIS fighters
a proper burial wherever possible.
Removal: A committee was founded 19
days ago to oversee the massive clean-up operation in Kobane, with the
removal of the hundreds of rotting terrorist corpses littering the
streets the Kurds' priority
Taken away: Despite the militants
having brought rape and massacre to the local population, the Kurds
insist on giving dead ISIS fighters a proper burial wherever possible
once they are cleared from the street
The majority of the dead Islamic State fighters were killed in buildings destroyed by coalition warplanes
Airstrike: During the four months the
Islamist militants spent besieging Kobane, American and Arab warplanes
bombarded ISIS-held buildings from above
Images
of the clean-up operation were shared online by local journalist Jack
Shahine, who became one of the first people to return to Kobane after
fearless, outnumbered soldiers from the all-male YPG and all-female YPJ
Kurdish resistance forces chased Islamic State terrorists out of the
city.
A
committee was founded 19 days ago to oversee the massive clean-up
operation in Kobane, with the removal of the hundreds of rotting
terrorist corpses littering the streets the Kurds' priority.
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Speaking
to MailOnline on his return to the city, Shahine said: Disease is
something the local authorities in Kobane will not allow. The board will
not allow the local civilians to come back into destroyed areas until
they are completely free of bodies.'
ISIS launched its unexpected assault on Kobane in mid-September.
Over
the following four months, brave men and women belonging to the Kurdish
YPG and YPJ resistance groups defied all odds and prevented the
Islamist militants capturing the city centre, while American and Arab
warplanes bombarded ISIS-held buildings from above.
Although
the terrorists were forced back to the Euphrates River more than 18
miles away in January, their campaign of terror and destruction inside
Kobane is still apparent from the huge piles of rubble lining the roads
and fact the once-bustling city remains quiet and sparsely populated.
Young Kurds take to the streets of Kobane to help remove rubble and dead bodies from the streets
The hand of a dead Islamic State militant is seen inside one of the tractors removing rubble and corpses
A member of the Kobane clean-up committee gestures as he removes the bodies of ISIS terrorists
Carnage: Images of the clean-up
operation were shared online by local journalist Jack Shahine, who
became one of the first people to return to Kobane (pictured) after
fearless Kurdish fighters chased ISIS out of the city
An unexploded shell is seen in a badly damaged area of central Kobane yesterday afternoon
Coming home: Queues of Kobane residents wait at the Turkish border ready to return to their liberated city
Return: A steady flow of Kobane citizens are now heading back to their liberated city after ISIS terrorists fled
The situation was quite different last
September, when desperate locals fled Kobane for the relative safety of
southern Turkey. Here the refugees are seen being provided with water
by a Turkish Red Crescent officer
Having
escaped 400 yards over the border to the relative safety of southern
Turkey upon ISIS' advance on Kobane, Shahine and thousands of other
Kurds watched in horror as the terrorists set about destroying the city -
pinning YPG and YPJ forces back in the centre in a barbaric assault.
At
one point things looked so bad that Turkish President Recep Erdogan
declared the city was only hours away from completely falling into ISIS'
bloodstained hands.
Alongside
the Kurdish troops, Shahine says, were two battalions from the Free
Syrian Army: one group from Raqqa and another from nearby Manbij.
'We
never expected ISIS to attack us and destroy the city. We never
expected the coalition airstrikes. It was a huge, huge thing for us. It
was beyond our imagination,' he added.
Over
the following four months these forces engaged ISIS in ferocious street
battles, while coalition warplanes targeted the militants from the air.
Kurdish peshmerga forces from neighbouring Iraq later travelled to join
the fight, giving the embattled ground forces a much needed boost.
By
late January, Kobane's fearless ISIS resistance brigades had done what
seemed impossible only months earlier – forced the terrorists to retreat
first into the city's suburbs, then lift the siege altogether and flee
to their strongholds along the Euphrates River, more than 18 miles
away.
Fearless: Despite being outnumbered,
brave soldiers from the all-male YPG and all-female YPJ Kurdish
resistance forces chased Islamic State terrorists out of the city in
January
Rubble: ISIS launched its unexpected
assault on Kobane in September, forcing thousands of locals to flee and
leaving those unable to escape facing rape and massacre. The assault
laid waste to vast areas of the city
Blast: A cloud of thick black smoke is seen over Kobane following a coalition airstrike on an ISIS target
Many of the streets inside the ancient city of Kobane are now little more than rubble-strewn ruins
Clean-up teams continue the arduous task of removing rubble and dead bodies from Kobane's streets
The Turkish flag is seen near wreckage left by fighting in the predominantly Kurdish Syrian town of Kobane
A man is seen among the wreckage left by fighting in the centre of the Syrian town of Kobane
Brave: A group of Kurds prepare to take part in an anti-ISIS night patrol in the outskirts of Kobane
The
first families started returning to the villages surrounding Kobane
shortly after ISIS lifted the siege and fled to the Euphrates River.
'Some
families are returning, the families that live in villages. The
villages are not as destroyed as the city itself. There is so much
destruction in the city that right now they can't get back. Not until
there is some kind of reconstruction and rebuilding,' Shahine told
MailOnline.
While
citizens finally start returning and rebuilding Kobane, the brave
Kurdish defence forces are continuing to take the fight to ISIS, pushing
the terror group further and further to the west and south of the city.
Shahine
said Kobane's citizens were initially worried about ISIS returning to
the area but revealed that many are now cautiously optimistic that the
terror group won't want to launch a renewed assault all the time
American and Arab airstrikes continue.
'When
ISIS first fled the city people were concerned that they would return.
But we are satisfied that they won't be back because of the airstrikes,'
he said.
'Jets
are constantly in the air over Kobane and the neighbouring cities. As
long as there are airstrikes ISIS won't be able to move forward in this
area', he added.
Wrecked: Destroyed buildings are seen lining this road that runs through the centre of the predominantly Kurdish city of Kobane
People are seen near the wreckage left by fighting in the center of the Syrian town of Kobane
A man is seen near the wreckage left by fighting in the center of the Syrian town of Kobane
A young Kurdish boy is seen playing in the remains of a destroyed car seen in centre of the Syrian town of Kobane
People are seen sitting with suitcases near the wreckage left by fighting in the centre Kobane after returning to their homes
Young Kurdish boys are seen warming
their hands over a fire in central Kobane. They returned to their homes
after ISIS militants fled
Battled ravaged: Wreckage left by fighting is seen in the centre of the Syrian town of Kobane
While civilians in the eastern parts
of the city are refusing entrance to the area on suspicion of a trap,
houses in other areas are being presented ready for use by their owners
Last
week Shahine told MailOnline how he fled Kobane at the last possible
moment, frantically grabbing his belongings as the rampaging ISIS
militants closed to within three miles of the city centre, where they
would soon bring four months of rape and massacre to the predominantly
Kurdish city.
He
is now among the first residents to return to the once-bustling city
and has taken incredible photographs of what he found; rotting bodies
of ISIS terrorists littering the streets, collapsed buildings at every
turn, and evidence that the militants had been using his mattresses to
sleep, cooking in his kitchen and smashing vintage bottles of wine in
his back garden.
Shahine
said that although his family and many others fled Kobane when ISIS got
within four miles of the city, he spent a frantic final two days
collecting items from his home - by which time ISIS were just three
miles from the city centre.
He
then managed to escape into neighbouring Turkey with the help of border
authorities and the Red Crescent, who set up two emergency crossing
points for the thousands of families desperately leaving Kobane in fear
of their lives.
Over
the following four months these forces engaged ISIS in ferocious street
battles, while coalition warplanes targeted the militants from the air.
Kurdish peshmerga forces from neighbouring Iraq later travelled to join
the fight, giving the embattled ground forces a much needed boost.
By
late January, Kobane's fearless ISIS resistance brigades had done what
seemed impossible only months earlier – forced the terrorists to retreat
first into the city's suburbs, then lift the siege altogether and flee
to their strongholds along the Euphrates River, more than 18 miles away.
Shock: Jack Shahine decided to venture
into the city to see what had become of the home (pictured) he had fled
only hours before ISIS began firing mortar shells into the surrounding
area. He discovered a burnt corpse outside the front door of one of his
buildings
In the street outside his home he saw
the twisted corpse of an ISIS militant lying in the road with its
severed head several feet to the left
Two of the properties three buildings
had been demolished, but the militants had apparently been using the
remaining living area as a base and there was evidence of them sleeping
on his mattresses and using his kitchen to cook food
'Everything was destroyed but in
fairness they didn't steal anything,' Shahine said. 'The only thing they
did was throw an old, expensive bottle of wine out of my house and
broke it'
Destroyed: Kobane's schools, municipal
buildings and roads are rubble-strewn ruins as the clean-up operation
finally gets underway following ISIS' retreat. However, the sheer number
of burnt and decaying bodies and the possibility of unexploded mortar
shells ensures it will be months before Kobane returns to normal
Destroyed: Al-Thawra High-school is seen before the four month ISIS assault as a modern orange and white building
Carnage: ISIS launched its unexpected
assault on Kobane in September, forcing thousands of locals to flee over
the nearby border into Turkey and leaving those unable to escape facing
rape and massacre. The assault laid waste to vast areas of the city
The
first families started returning to the villages surrounding Kobane
shortly after ISIS lifted the siege and fled to the Euphrates River.
'Some
families are returning, the families that live in villages. The
villages are not as destroyed as the city itself. There is so much
destruction in the city that right now they can't get back. Not until
there is some kind of reconstruction and rebuilding,' Shahine told
MailOnline.
On
returning to the city, the journalist decided to see what had become
of the home he fled several months earlier - a time when ISIS were so
close by that he could hear their mortar shells exploding into the
surrounding neighbourhoods.
In
the street outside his home Shahine saw the twisted corpse of an ISIS
militant lying in the road with its severed head several feet to the
left.
What he encountered inside the property was equally chilling.
Stepping
over the charred remains of another ISIS fighter in his back garden,
Shahine saw that two of the three buildings on his property had been
totally destroyed. The third building was still standing and there was
evidence that the militants had been using it as a base - sleeping on
the mattresses and using the kitchen to cook food.
'I
checked the kitchen and I saw their leftovers and that they had used
the utensils, so I know ISIS had been living inside my house,' he said.
'Everything
was destroyed but in fairness they didn't steal anything. The only
thing they did was throw an old, expensive bottle of wine out of my
house and broke it,' Shahine added.
One of the biggest issues to address
is the removal of hundreds of ISIS militants' rapidly decaying bodies in
Kobane. Despite the carnage the terrorists have wreaked in their city,
the Kurdish clean-up committee is ensuring the dead are given dignified
burials where possible
There are issues with bodies trapped
beneath the rubble of buildings that are not yet able to be removed.
Local authorities are concerned about the risk of infection these
corpses pose
A YPG fighter is seen patrolling the
centre of Kobane. 'Disease is something the local authorities in Kobane
will not allow. The board will not allow the local civilians to come
back into destroyed areas until they are completely free of bodies,'
Shahine said
Shahine said that although his family
and many others fled Kobane when ISIS got within four miles of the city,
he spent a frantic final two days collecting items from his home, by
which time ISIS were just three miles from the city centre
Kurdish troops carrying the yellow flag of the YPG People's Protection Units patrol central Kobane in an armoured vehicle
A run down ambulance is seen in central Kobane after ISIS fled the city in late January
The first families started returning
to the villages surrounding Kobane shortly after ISIS lifted the siege
and retreated to the Euphrates
The town, which is known in Arabic as
Ain al-Arab, is now characterised by demolished buildings and heavily
armed fighters roaming otherwise deserted, rubble-strewn streets
While
citizens finally start returning and rebuilding Kobane, the brave
Kurdish defence forces are continuing to take the fight to ISIS, pushing
the terror group further and further to the west and south of the city.
'ISIS
are losing ground now to the Kurdish forces. Today the clashes were
lighter than in previous days because of the cold weather and heavy
rain,' Shahine told MailOnline on February 10.
'ISIS
are now pushed back as far as the Euphrates River, 30 km west of
Kobane. There are two big ISIS-held Arabian towns, both named Shuyukh.
Kurdish forces are within three miles of these towns.'
'But
actually [when ISIS left Kobane] there was no heavy fighting. They were
just retreating. There was a little fighting but nothing like as heavy
as usual ISIS firefights. It was just defensive fire to enable them to
escape. They weren't attacking, they were just retreating all the time.'
Shahine
said Kobane's citizens were initially worried about ISIS returning to
the area but revealed that many are now cautiously optimistic that the
terror group won't want to launch a renewed assault all the time
American and Arab airstrikes continue.
'When
ISIS first fled the city people were concerned that they would return.
But we are satisfied that they won't be back because of the airstrikes,'
he said.
'Jets
are constantly in the air over Kobane and the neighbouring cities. As
long as there are airstrikes ISIS won't be able to move forward in this
area', he added.
While citizens finally start returning
to Kobane, the brave Kurdish defence forces (pictured) are continuing
to take the fight to ISIS, pushing the terror group further and further
south
Battle against ISIS: A Kurdish YPG fighter is seen during a routine patrol in the centre of Kobane
Shahine said Kobane's citizens
(pictured) were initially worried about ISIS returning to the area but
revealed that many are now cautiously optimistic that the terror group
won't want to return all the time the prospect of American and Arab
airstrikes continues
Although local residents hope the
battle of Kobane will help Kurds get more rights in Syria, the clean-up
operation is at the front of their mind
Rebuilding: As a lifelong resident of Kobane, the future of his home city is on the forefront of Jack Shahine's mind
ISIS finally lifted the siege in
January after the city became little more than a death trap for them,
retreating to strongholds approximately 20 miles away and leaving Kobane
in ruins
As a resident of Kobane, the future of his home city is on the forefront of Shahine's mind.
He
says the local population are now more convinced than ever that the
civil war tearing Syria apart will not end in the fall of President
Bashar al-Assad and that the battle against ISIS will not be over any
time soon – even with the help of Western and Arab nations.
He
hopes, however, that the bravery of the Kurdish fighters will prove to
the world that the Kurdish people should have improved rights, even if
the establishment of an independent Kurdish state seems unlikely.
'Most
of the people here in Kobane feel they are Kurdish-Syrians, not just
Kurdish. They feel that Kobane should stay as a city inside Syria but
with improved rights for the Kurds,' he told MailOnline.
'Kurds
should have their own rights and their own language to speak, because
these things have been forbidden under the Assad regime. You can't speak
Kurdish, you can't learn your own language. I mean, even the name of
Kobane was banned and it was called Ayn al-Arab,' he added.
This is all for the future, however. For the meantime the rebuilding of Kobane will take centre stage.
'I
know people will at least demand for improved Kurdish rights. But for
the time being people are just looking to rebuild the city and get back
to normal life and - of course -, to get rid of ISIS. That will take a
long time,' Shahine said.
'People
are frustrated. The war has gone on for over four years and people see
that Assad is not going to fall down. It will be a long story and I
don't know what will happen,' he added.
Jack
Shahine's reports from inside Kobane and on the battle to defeat
Islamic State in the surrounding area can be found on his website: http://jackshahine.wordpress.com/
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