Kobane - Kurdish families returning home to Kobane this week cautiously made their way through rubble, unexploded bombs and burnt corpses of global terror group Islamic State (IS).
Kobane is a Syrian city on the Turkish border which has been a battleground between IS and Kurdish fighters since September.
IS has attracted Muslims from several countries to fight for its vision of creating an Islamic empire. Over the past few years it has gained control in parts of Iraq and wreaked havoc in Syria.
Deadly clashes have led to thousands of Kobane’s residents fleeing to other parts of Syria, Iraq and refugee camps in Turkish cities.
Kurdish fighters have pushed IS back to villages on the outskirts of Kobane where clashes still continue.
Despite this, locals are returning to an uncertain future. Khatoon Abdi, a mother of 12, eight daughters and four sons, said she was “happy to be home even if we don’t know if IS will come back. Our house is destroyed. We have no electricity or water. We are living in a miserable situation.
“When we heard about the liberation we returned immediately. We were in Urfa (a Turkish city). We prefer to live in this destruction than in other lands.”
She added: “We want all the other people to come back. We have to remove this destruction, especially the dead bodies because it can cause diseases.”
Another returning Kobane resident, Hassan Rami, said his family was still in Diyarbakir, another Turkish city where refugee camps have housed thousands of Kurds displaced by IS attacks mainly in Iraq.
Rami said: “I was here (in Kobane) when IS came and then left to Turkey.
“When they first came, they shelled the city with missiles. It was too dangerous to be here. We saw the fighting.
“We went to Diyarbakir. My family is still there. I just came back to see my house. It is entirely destroyed.”
Residents struggle to comprehend the mess they have returned to. Buildings, houses and shops have been destroyed during clashes with IS.
Adir strikes by US-led coalition forces – aimed at eliminating IS earlier this year – led to further destruction.
Pharmacy assistant Kurdi Ibrahim kissed the street in Kobane and said: “I love it. Kobane was very beautiful.
“I am shocked to see it like this. It is very strange. We will rebuild our homes. We will give our children hope,” he said.
“I have hope that people will come back home. We need water and bread. We have no electricity.
“We need help from outside. Maybe other countries or the UN can help us.”
Fayza Abdi, co-president of the legislative council in Kobane, said locals were continually returning to their homes despite risks.
The Turkish border this week opened for hundreds of refugees to re-enter Kobane.
“It is a psychological matter. People want to be in their own homes.”
She said Kobane’s population was almost 700 000 and of that 200 000 left Syria during the IS warfare. Many also fled to areas near Kobane.
Abdi said the legislative council had formulated a plan to rebuild Kobane, but needed help. “We have six committees that have different jobs. There are some international organisations that promised to help us rebuild Kobane, but it’s just still promises,” she said.
Apart from the humanitarian crisis, Kobane’s returning residents also face the risk of landmines that IS planted across the town, said Abdi.
“Whenever people who return open the doors of their homes, then bombs explode. This is the most difficult situation that these people will face when they return home,” Abdi explained.
“Also, there is no water. All the water wells have been destroyed. All the electricity generators have been burnt.”
A representative from an international NGO, who did not want to be named, confirmed that landmines and booby-trap bombs were a threat.
IS planted explosives in homes, streets and even on the bodies of their dead fighters, said the aid worker.
“There are booby traps in people’s homes, front doors, refrigerators, in the streets. People go back, and their faces are blown off,” said the worker.
“The UN can’t get involved in Syria via the Turkish border because of politics. NGOs have to enter Kobane illegally, but anti-mining groups can’t get in. People who could help are just too slow to respond.”
The worker said there had already been “victims of landmines who need to be transferred to Turkey for help, but are being blocked at the border”.
“They can’t get back because the border is blocked. They can – and probably will – die at the border.”
Kobane’s makeshift hospital, set up in a basement school, assists civilians and Kurdish fighters injured in clashes with IS. A female fighter was being treated for an injury to her leg at the time of this interview.
At the makeshift hospital, Dr Hekmet Ahmed said they had only eight beds and limited doctors. “Our hospitals have been destroyed. We badly need equipment to treat people.”
A walk about the destroyed city unearths IS fighters’ bodies, family photo albums, children’s clothes, shops that used to sell wedding dresses and other goods. While some families have generators, most live without electricity and water supply remains scarce.
Abdi said: “We, as Kurdish people, defeated IS. It is a victory for the international community. We ask the international community to support us in reconstructing Kobane.”
Sunday Independent