
ALEPPO, Syria -- More than 300 Kurdish families have fled the violence in Aleppo to take refuge in the neighboring Kurdish town of Kobane.
Liberated from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces on the eve of July 19 and now ruled by Kurdish authorities, the town of Kobane in northeast Syria has become a safe haven for those fleeing the constant airstrikes and armed conflict between Assad’s forces and the Free Syria Army (FSA).
On Wednesday, Rudaw saw many families on the motorway to Kobane, fleeing the violence.
A family of seven who arrived at the entrance of the town said they couldn’t bear the permanent airstrikes on Aleppo.
The driver refused to reveal his full name and said he wanted to be identified as “Shilan’s father”. Shilan, his oldest daughter, was killed after becoming a guerrilla fighter several years ago.
He said they were from the Kurdish section of Sheikh Maqsud in Aleppo where no conflict has yet taken place, but the street fight near his neighborhood made him fear for the lives of his children.
“The government’s airstrikes on Aleppo are continuous; the conflict does not stop, day or night, even for 10 minutes,” he said.
The man added, “We also saw many tanks surrounding the city when we were on our way out and, apart from our neighborhood, war is on every other street in the city.”
At the town’s entrance, Shilan’s father met with relatives who were waiting for the family to help them find shelter.
Immediately after they left, another family arrived.
Husain Mohammad Alo, 45, was also looking for relatives at the entrance to Kobane. “In the last month, we have tried to leave Aleppo many times but couldn’t because of the airstrikes,” he said. “The city is being attacked 24/7 and we had to get out because it is on its way to being destroyed completely.”
Earlier, the FSA controlled two exits on the outskirts of Aleppo which allowed civilians to easily get out. But Assad’s forces have now surrounded the city from the outside and fighting is ongoing on all fronts, leading to the closure of both exists.
Alo said Assad’s forces asked the family why they were leaving the city, pretending that everything in Aleppo was normal. The FSA, on the other hand, interrogated them with respect and allowed the family to finally leave the city.
“The FSA did question us but they were respectful. However, the Syrian army was asking why we were leaving the city, and because we were scared we said we were moving house. They were pretending as if nothing was happening in Aleppo,” he said.
Many of the refugees have relatives in Kobane, while others are being supported by Kurdish political activists.
Malak Bozan, a refuge from Aleppo holding her child in her arms at Kobane’s local bazaar, told Rudaw that it is difficult to stay at different houses of relatives every night and think about what has been left behind.
“We have been in Kobane for 20 days now, but I swear to god we feel really uncomfortable and insecure. We stay with our relatives but it is uncomfortable for us and for them. We have left everything behind. Our life in Aleppo is now gone and that is the nightmare we think about every night,” she said.
Until recently, the safest areas in Aleppo were the Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsud, Ashrafiya and parts of Haidariya where Kurds reside and protect their community from violence. However, the conflict between the FSA and Assad’s forces reached the Kurdish neighborhoods on Thursday and now furious fighting is taking place there.
The war in Aleppo between Assad’s forces and FSA is seen as the last battle in the uprising that has been ongoing for a year and a half. Earlier in the week, Assad announced that he was sending 22,000 soldiers to Aleppo and that his government would not give up the city. The FSA sees this as the last stand for Assad’s regime and has all their major battalions congregating in Aleppo.
Traveling from Qamishli to Kobane, one has to pass many checkpoints belonging to Assad’s forces. Normally the trip takes five hours, but this time it took 24 hours in order to avoid the snipers positioned on most government buildings along the way.
In the village of Slwk -- next the notoriously pro-Assad village of Til Abyad -- snipers scoped on us with their lasers, but we managed to exit the village safely.
Since Wednesday, when the families arrived, no one else has come to Kobane. An estimated 2 million civilians are still in Aleppo, faced with the constant armed fighting on their streets and living under daily airstrikes, unable to escape the unpredictable conflict that is shattering the city to the ground.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/syria/5076.html