Regime fighters and Kurds fight militants in same city

Extremist group is beaten back by unlikely alliance

HASSAKEH, SYRIA // In two districts of Hassakeh city, Kurdish fighters and regime forces rest before returning to battle ISIL, a shared enemy being fought jointly for the first time.

Although the two forces are fighting in different parts of the north-eastern city, where control is divided between the Kurds and the government, both are necessary to defeat the extremists.

“We can’t fight all alone in Hassakeh because ISIL attacked in great numbers,” a government soldier said, sheltering from the scorching heat in a house surrounded by sandbags in the Ghweyran district.

The capital of Hassakeh province has been spared much of the violence of Syria’s conflict, and control of the city has been shared between Kurdish and regime forces for several years now.

But ISIL has encroached gradually in the province and made a series of attempts to enter the city, finally succeeding in an operation that began on June 25.

The extremists seized several southern neighbourhoods and prompted tens of thousands of residents to flee, forcing Kurdish fighters and regime troops into an unofficial alliance to defend the city.

The joint effort has borne fruit in recent days, with fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) taking territory south of the city from ISIL, effectively encircling them.

Inside the city, government troops have also advanced.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, army forces and Kurdish fighters have almost totally encircled ISIL in the southern part of Hassakeh.

“We’ve pushed the ISIL guys out of Ghweyran. There’s only a bit left to go,” a senior army officer said as he inspected troops in the neighbourhood.

Despite sharing control of the city for several years, never before have the regime and the Kurd ish fighters in Hassakeh come together to fight ISIL.

“The Kurds wouldn’t have been able to encircle the ISIL fighters without the weapons we gave them,” the officer said. About 600 metres away from the army’s position, in the Maaruf district, a dozen Kurdish fighters take a break in a school that has been converted into an assembly point.

Officially, they deny receiving aid from the government, but their weapons are Russian- made and closely resem- ble those the army is using just down the road. But they make it clear that they share the same enemy as the government.

“For us, there’s a single enemy, and that is ISIL,” said one fighter.

On the first floor of the school, members of the Kurdish female fighting units known as the YPJ watch regime soldiers in the distance through a rifle sight as they advance cautiously through trees towards ISIL positions.

“Our fighters are continuing their advance towards the east of the city to tighten the siege against ISIL,” said Shirine, whose long dark hair is topped with a bandanna.

On the wall, banners of the YPG and YPJ have been hung alongside a painting of the Syrian flag.

In the skies above Hassakeh, warplanes of regime forces and the US-led coalition against ISIL can be seen at different times, scouting for targets.

Washington has insisted that the coalition, which began a campaign of air strikes in Syria in September last year, will not coordinate with president Bashar Al Assad’s regime.

But in reality, a YPG officer said, “there is coordination on the flights between the Syrian army and the coalition forces”.

“They communicate through a Kurdish mediator.”