'They're Killing Us': The Disturbing Rise of the Islamic State

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-disturbing-advance-of-the-islamic-state-in-northern-iraq-a-985489.html



The Islamic State is conquering cities in Syria and Iraq with disturbing frequency and tens of thousands of Christians and Yazidis are fleeing. The US has begun air strikes, but the Islamists are benefiting from instability in both countries.

'They're Killing Us': The Disturbing Rise of the Islamic State
By Katrin Kuntz and Christoph Reuter
August 11, 2014 – 06:54 PM

With the exception of a few birds defying the sweltering midday heat, all is quiet on the front, with Kurdish fighters cowering in the shade of the cliffs. Suddenly, sentence fragments from Friday prayers can be heard on the banks of the Euphrates River. "Gather together ... smash the traitors of the faith!" The words from the preacher, distorted by the amplifiers so loved by the jihadists, sound almost spooky.

Down along the river, the jihadists with the Islamic State (IS) gather together for the next attack. A few hundred meters above on the sparse, sun-drenched hills, the Kurds are sitting, feeling like they've somehow ended up on the set of a horror film.

"What do they want from us," asks one young fighter who only a few weeks ago still worked as a cashier in a supermarket. "These madmen keep on attacking and they continue to come at us even after they've been shot. I hit one of them twice. He only stopped after he was shot in the head. They're insane. They come here to die."

Front Lines that Evoke WW1

Kobanê, known as Ayn al-Arab in Arabic, is a small Kurdish enclave in northern Syria located on the border with Turkey. Since January it has been under siege by IS because Kobanê is located directly in the middle of the terrorist militia's self-declared caliphate. Throughout the entire month of July, every three to four days, up to a thousand militiamen armed with tanks, anti-aircraft guns and mortars would attack Kurds entrenched in the hills. The only reason they have been able to withstand the onslaught is that they began digging protective trenches and building bunkers with cement ceilings earlier this year. The front lines here today evoke those of World War I.