Humanitarian disaster unfolding today: IS encroaches on Kobane on five fronts

by Sheila Saturday, Sep. 20, 2014 at 5:10 AM

Dire news from northern Syria: The Islamic State is waging a massive offensive against its most hated enemy in Syria, the YPG (People's Defense Units) of Rojava, because they are anticapitalist, open to all religions, they invite women to participate at all levels of the organization, and have been collectivizing northern Syria into councils and workers' cooperatives since the Syrian government withdrew from that region in 2012. The YPG was inspired Kurdish leaders' reading Murray Bookchin and therefore seeks to be nonhierarchical and democratic. They are, incidentally, also the forces who actually rescued the Yesidis from Mount Sinjar, long before the first US airstrike. They truly are the Zapatistas of the east, and they deserve our support.

Humanitarian disaste...
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Impending new humanitarian disaster in northern Syria: IS attacking Kobane (Rojava)

Dire news from northern Syria:

The Islamic State is waging a massive offensive against its most hated enemy in Syria, the YPG (People's Defense Units) of Rojava, because they are anticapitalist, open to all religions, they invite women to participate at all levels of the organization, and have been collectivizing northern Syria into councils and workers' cooperatives since the Syrian government withdrew from that region in 2012. The YPG was inspired Kurdish leaders' reading Murray Bookchin and therefore seeks to be nonhierarchical and democratic. They are, incidentally, also the forces who actually rescued the Yesidis from Mount Sinjar, long before the first US airstrike. They truly are the Zapatistas of the east, and they deserve our support.

The IS meanwhile most often fights the YPG, and only rarely fights the Syrian government (suspicious). In fact, currently 80% of IS forces are massed against the YPG in Kobane, with 3000 jihadis just on the western front.

There has been a flood of refugees headed to the Turkish border, with the thunder of US-made artillery captured by IS in the backdrop, only to be stopped by Turkish troops. It has been reported that the Turks did open the border later on. Also, Turkey has again been caught arming the IS this week. Fundamentalist muslim Turkish President Erdogan is hoping the IS will wipe out Turkey's old enemies the Kurds.

There appears to be a news blackout on this IS offensive, and who it is they are fighting.


Some websites:

https://twitter.com/hashtag/kobane
https://twitter.com/DefenseUnits (mixed gender militia)
https://twitter.com/DefenseUnitsYPJ (women-only militia)
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/meet-kurdish-women-fighting-isis-syria-n199821


Detailed Background Info:
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/27301

Videos from this week:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=648_1411028275