AFRIN’S YOUTHFUL RESISTANCE JOINS YPG

▶ Civilians who have never touched gun say they are compelled to defend their home

Ammunition belts slung over their shoulders, dozens of young Syrian Kurds gathered in Afrin’s town square to enlist in the resistance movement against a Turkish-backed assault.

They wore mismatched military gear, some in jeans and others with scarves wrapped around their faces.

A few said it was the first time they had touched a weapon, but that they were compelled to defend their hometown.

“Afrin is where I grew up, just like my parents and my grandparents before me. This is why it’s a duty for me to fight for it,” said Asmaa, 19.

The first-year journalism student at Afrin University last month decided to leave her studies and respond to a call to arms by Kurdish authorities.

Town officials called for a “mass mobilisation” of civilians to defend against an assault by Turkish troops and allied rebels against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Afrin.

They estimate hundreds have joined so far. Some have been sent to the front lines while others have volunteered for hospital shifts or duties with rescue teams that search for survivors after the bombardments.

Asmaa, a black-and-white scarf wrapped around her neck, said she enlisted to take part in the fighting.

“Today, I don’t see myself as a student. I see myself as a fighter,” she said.

The crowd around her split into two queues – one for men and one for women – and began marching through Afrin for an impromptu parade.

As shopkeepers looked on, the youths waved YPG flags and chanted, “No to occupation” and “Long live the heroic resisters”.

Turkey and allied Syrian rebels began a cross-border assault on the Afrin region on January 20, and most of the fighting has been concentrated along the mountainous frontier.

Ankara has blacklisted the YPG as a terrorist group for its ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a deadly and decades-long insurgency against the Turkish government.

Local authorities had to act quickly to hold off the offensive, said Jinda Tulhaldan, a leader in the Kurdish Youth Movement’s Afrin branch.

“We give them [volunteers] a week of military training and teach them how to use weapons,” Ms Tulhaldan said.

“We know a week isn’t enough, but we were attacked and had to defend our city with whatever we had in front of us.”

The Afrin region juts out from Syria’s northern Aleppo province and is governed under a semi-autonomous system established by Kurds in 2013.

Under that system, people between the ages of 18 and 32 must spend a year in military conscription, said the YPG’s spokesman in Afrin, Birusk Hasakeh.

Mr Hasakeh said hundreds of recruits had now fully enlisted in the YPG and allied groups, including members of local government who had quit public office and taken up arms.

“Others decided to prepare tea and food, and others are volunteering in the hospitals,” he said.

Tirij Hassan, a 22-year-old, said: “We were trained in light weapons at the youth centre in Afrin. It’s the first time I carry weapons, but I’m happy about it because I’ll be defending Afrin.”

Turkey said it does everything it can to avoid hitting civilians.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 68 civilians have been killed, including 21 children, since Turkey launched operation Olive Branch last month.

At least three civilians were killed by rocket fire from Syria into Turkish territory.

More than 100 YPG fighters and about the same number of pro-Turkey rebels have also died in the fight, the Britain-based monitor said.

“Turkish warplanes are bombing Afrin,” said Farhad Akid, a 21-year-old student in the city centre.

“As young men, we’ve pledged ourselves to resist. We won’t allow a single Turkish occupier to enter our blessed land.”