View allAll Photos Tagged Daesh
Diyarbakir (Amed), Fête du Newroz 2015. Cette année, la fête de Newroz qui marque le nouvel an kurde, symbole de renaissance et de résistance pour ce peuple, se déroule dans un contexte particulièrement tendu. Depuis décembre 2015, l'était turc assiège et bombarde des quartiers entiers de villes kurdes, où populatins civiles comme militants sont indistinctement massacrés, et soumet l'ensemble de la population kurde à un violente répression. D'un autre côté, la peur d'un attentat suicide de daesh est dans toutes les têtes. Malgré tout, même si ils sont moins nombreux que les années passées, les Kurdes se rejoignent à Amed, capitale du Kurdistan, pour fêter Newroz et célébrer leur résistance.
160620-Z-IX631-180 JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (June 20, 2016) - More than 50 members of the Hawaii Air National Guard (HIANG) and three KC-135 Strotankers, based at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPH-H) have returned home following a four-month deployment in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. The three KC-135 Stratotankers belonging to the 203rd Air Refueling Squadron, along with flight and maintenance crews and other support personnel were part of the 18-Nation air Coalition in the fight against Daesh or ISIS. Two tankers and most of the Airmen arrived today at JBPH-H following the long flight from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. June 20, 2016, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Andrew Jackson/Released)
U.S. Soldiers in the 4th Battalion, 118th Infantry Regiment, 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team, North Carolina Army National Guard, attached to the 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, South Carolina Army National Guard, provide M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles for support to Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) eastern Syria Nov. 10, 2019. The mechanized infantry troops partner with Syrian Democratic Forces to defeat ISIS remnants and protect critical infrastructure in eastern Syria. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by Spc. DeAndre Pierce)
Mehrere Dutzend Menschen haben sich an einer Kundgebung am Fuße des Berliner Brandenburger Tores beteiligt, um die Belagerung und die Angriffe der türkischen Polizei auf die Stadt Silvan zu verurteilen. Zudem wird Freiheit für den PKK-Führer Abdullah Öcalan gefordert.
Die Protestierenden sehen die Auseinandersetzungen in Silvan in einer Reihe mit Angriffen des türkischen Staates auf Kurden und kurdische Organisationen seit Staatspräsident Recep Tayyip Erdogans AKP ihre absolute Parlamentsmehrheit verloren hatte. Im Gegenzug hat auch die kurdische Arbeiterpartei PKK ihre Waffenruhe aufgekündigt und turkische Einrichtungen angegriffen.
Auf der Kundgebung wird auch dem Schicksal der Jesiden im irakischen Shingal gedacht. Die Jesiden sehen sich massiver Gewalt ausgesetzt, seit der sogenannte Islamische Staat ihr Gebiet im Irak überrannt hat. Zur Zeit versuchen kurdische Milizen den IS mit einer Großoffensive aus dem Shingal zurückzudrängen.
The legend of the 4th cent Sts Behnam and Sarah casts Sennacherib (r.705-681 BCE), under the name Sinharib, as their royal father. After Behnam converts to Christianity, Sinharib orders his execution, but is later struck by a dangerous disease that is cured through being baptized by St Matthew in Assur. Thankful, Sinharib then converts to Christianity and founds an important monastery near Mosul, called Deir Mar Mattai.
The Monastery was destroyed on March 19, 2015, by Daesh (Isis) who desecrated the exterior murals in all of the monastery's buildings. Repair work restoring the monastery and the tomb of Mar Behnam to its pre-ISIS condition was completed by December 2018.
A few kilometers outside of Dohuk, Iraq, what was supposed to be a five-star hotel has become a nightmarish makeshift refugee camp. After ISIS attacked Sinjar, massacring and enslaving the local Yazidi people, a few of those fortunate enough to escape have sought refuge at the massive “Hotel Kayar” (literally “place where one receives friends). With construction stalled in its early stages, the concrete structure is an inhospitable environment for the 63 Yazidi families who now call it home. Children play with no railing or walls to prevent them from falling. “We just want tents like the other refugees,” said one man, after a storm recently ravaged the little infrastructure they managed to set up in the two months they’ve been here. With a cold winter right around the corner and scarce food and water, the future looks dire.And the kids keep smiling...
© Eric Lafforgue
Unidad de #helis de las Fuerzas Aeromóviles #EjércitodeTierra que desplegará con la coalición para apoyar a #Irak en su lucha contra el #Daesh, en la Operación Inherente Resolve. @CJTFOIR .
🇪🇸
#SomostuEjército
Political painter Kaya Mar displays three paintings. One portrays Francois Hollande riding on David Cameron's back in the desert. One portrays a blood-drenched Saudi prince standing on an oil barrel. The third portrays Tony Blair making the 'V' sign at the public.
Thousands attend "Don't Bomb Syria" anti-war protest at Downing Street: London 28/11/2015
In anticipation of MP's voting next week on whether or not the UK government should launch an air-strike campaign in Syria, thousands of anti-war protesters gathered outside Downing Street to voice their opposition to armed intervention in the region.
All photos © Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter, re-transmit or blog my images without my written permission. I remain at all times the copyright owner of this image.
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Some peshmergas take me to the front lines of the war against ISIS. I find myself in the Taza area, just south of Kirkuk, on the road to Baghdad.
According to them, very few journalists come here. Some even said that I was the only was they saw. Nonetheless, it is a key strategic location. It is very dangerous there since Kirkuk is divided: Kurds in the north, ISIS in the south. All along the front lines you can see different units roaming about little traditional houses. Some are kept by old Kurdish vets from the 1980s wars.
Many vets have returned to war, despite being well past middle-aged and having children and grandchildren. Some even behind comfortable lives in Europe to come back, like a Swiss colonel I met. For them, it is their duty to fight for their region. Despite being autonomous and having a large secessionist movement, Kurdistan is not recognized as a state distinct from Iraq. “Some terrorists come along and now the whole world calls them the ‘Islamic State’,” complains one peshmerga, “For decades we have been trying to make the state of Kurdistan and we’ve gotten nothing!”
They have very few weapons, most of them are pre-Cold War AK47s. Some even date back to 1960. They still work, but the Kurdish forces ask for more efficient guns since ISIS has the latest weapons taken (or given) from the Iraqi army who in turn was supplied by coalition forces.
Many vets have only one working eye. The other was lost in previous wars. Once night falls, it becomes very difficult to monitor the 1000km long border. They don’t even have night vision equipment.
Last week it rained for 5 days, and it was impossible to see or hear anything. Some ISIS guys tried to gain territory, but the Kurds successfully fought them off. Their 4 wheel drives were stuck in the mud while ISIS’s brand new hummers were able to move about without issue. From the front line you can see ISIS flags. Since they told me to pack light, I didn’t bring a zoom lens. Sorry! You can see the smoke from their kitchen and even see men running from house to house.
ISIS is only 500 meters from the Kurdish position but nobody seems afraid. Peshmerga know that death is part of their fate, and even if they look like an army from another century, they will defend themselves and their country to the very end. For them, it is the highest honor to die for Kurdistan.
They protect the Baghdad road, but a few weeks ago lost it. After heavy fighting, they regained it, killing 3 Chechen ISIS fighters in the process.
Since peshmerga don’t have armored cars, it is very dangerous for them to go around safely.
The car I took to go on the front lines was very slow and made in the 80s. If we were chased by ISIS cars, we wouldn’t have stood a chance. In one day, all the materiel I saw included AK47s, a tank, an RPG, and a few gun old machines. Even if the pehsmergas say that this equipment works well, they are disappointed not to receive new ones, as Europe and USA promised.
The day after my visit, France made lot of bombings in the area, as ISIS was too close. Peshmergas take a lot of pictures, not only for souvenirs, but also to fight ISIS on the new front: social media.
They fear the roads they do not know well as ISIS pays the local farmers to put mines. Even in times of war, peshmergas are among the most welcoming people in the world. They regularly offer food and drinks.
When it was time for me to go back to the safety of Erbil, circumstances changed. The north road was closed because of an ISIS attack. The only way out was to send me through the south road that crossed Kirkuk. Let’s just say that safety there was not ideal. I had to hide my camera, and we crossed Kirkuk with an escort of armed peshmergas and a civilian car.
The soldiers were all nervous since Kirkuk is very dangerous, especially at the check points. As soon as a car was driving next to ours for too long, they were shouting at the driver to go away.
If a man was crossing the road too slowly, they threatened to hit him. These methods, employed by ISIS suicide bombers, have claimed the lives of hundred in Kirkuk. Once on the Kurdish side, they found a Kurdish taxi driver to bring me safely back to Erbil.
© Eric Lafforgue
Rund 150 Menschen folgen in Berlin einem Aufruf unter dem Motto "Keine Deutsche Beteiligung am Krieg in Syrien", um gegen den Einsatz deutscher Soldaten in Syrien und die NATO, USA, und alles mögliche zu demonstrieren. Nachdem die angekündigten rechtsaußen Redner Kathrin Oertel (Ex-Pegida) und Jürgen Elsässer (Compact) nicht kommen konnten oder wollten, trat u.a. Christoph Hörstel auf. Dieser tourt seit Jahren als Werber für das syrische Regime von Baschar al-Assad durch das Land und trat auch auf der antisemitischen, iranischen Propaganga-Show des Al Quds Marsches in Berlin auf.
Der Protestzug zieht vom Vorplatz des Hauptbahnhofes zum Brandenburger Tor. Während des Zuges sprechen diverse Teilnehmer u.a. aus Erfurt und Halle, dabei wird die Bundesrepublik wahlweise mit dem nationalsozialisten Deutschland des "3. Reiches" oder der DDR verglichen.
Die Veranstaltung ist eng mit EnDgAmE verknüpft. Auch das Bandmitlied der rechten HipHop-Gruppe "Die Bandbreite" Marcel Wojnarowicz spricht und hält schließlich am Brandenburger Tor einen Ein-Mann-Auftritt seiner Band ab, wobei es einen wüsten Ritt durch die gängigen Verschwörungstheorien in Bezug auf 9/11, den arabischen Frühling, Daesh, Syrien und diverse andere vorgebliche Verbrechen der USA gibt. Zudem hagelt es Beschimpfungen der Presse und der "Antifa".
Rund 150 Menschen protestieren in Berlin mit einem Demonstrationszug vom Alexanderplatz zum Brandenburger Tor gegen das seit 1993 bestehende Verbot der Kurdischen Arbeiterpartei (PKK) in Deutschland.
In Reden wird darauf hingewiesen, dass insbesondere die Schwesterorganisationen der PKK, die YPG und YPJ in der nordsyrischen Provinz Rojava einen unschätzbaren Dienst im Kamp gegen Daesh leistet. Dies sogar im Zusammenspiel mit den USA.
Zudem sei Deutschland neben der Türkei das einzige Land, in dem die PKK verboten sei.
3 August 2014 will remain the day the life of the yazedis has changed. Up to 200,000 yazedis people have been displaced from their homes in Sinjar City and the surrounding towns and villages when ISIS arrived by surprise .
The islamist group asked the residents to convert or die...Hundreds of Yazidis were executed as they refused. Most of the people left the village on time, fleeing on foot in the mountains, without nothing and most of the time without water or food , under a 50 degrees temperature. They walked for 7 days, including the babies and the elders. Many were killed, wounded or captured on the way. Now thousands are in Duhok in Kurdistan, and towns like Zoar when they have found a shelter for the winter. Some still have contacts thanks to the mobile phones with the relatives captured or trapped in Sinjar, but many do not have any news of their relatives and fear the worst...Until now, the town od Sinjar is seized by ISIS, where hundreds of Yazidis remain stranded months after fleeing their homes.But Kurdish peshmergas have regained lot of the ground lost to ISIS with the help of the U.S. air strikes. Sinjar is a strategic place as it would put the peshmergas on three sides of Mosul, the largest city under ISIS rule in northern Iraq.
© Eric Lafforgue
Hundreds of anti-war campaigners assembled outside the BBC in Central London to demand an end to British military operations in Syria, before marching to Downing Street
All photos © Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter, re-transmit or blog my images without my written permission. I remain at all times the copyright owner of this image.
Hi-Res, un-watermarked versions of these files are available on application solely at my discretion
Media buyers wanting to use any image found in my Flickr Photostream please Email me directly.
Standard industry image licensing rates apply.
Armed Forces Day National Event Held in Cleethorpes - Sat 25 Jun 2016
Image shows: The Veterans were led by The Pipes and Drums of the 1st and 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland
Celebrations took place to mark the eighth annual Armed Forces Day, honouring the work and dedication of our brave Servicemen and women deployed around the world. More than 250 events including parades, military displays and community fetes are took place right across the country to say thank you to the Armed Forces community, including Regulars, Reserves, their families and veterans past and present. From fighting Daesh in the Middle East to training troops in Nigeria and supporting NATO exercises, the UK’s Armed Forces are on duty 24/7. Armed Forces Day is a chance for Britain to acknowledge their hard work and sacrifice. The National Event was held in the seaside town Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, attended by His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent representing the Queen and the Royal Family. Other guests included the Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, The Rt Hon Earl Howe, the Commander of Joint Forces Command, General Sir Chris Deverell KCB MBE ADC and the Worshipful Mayor of North East Lincolnshire Christina McGilligan-Fell. The National Event began with a spectacular display from the Red Arrows, an amphibious display on the beach from the Royal Marines and a parachute drop from the RAF Falcons. A parade of Service personnel, veterans and cadets then marched down Cleethorpes seafront, from the North Promenade to the Boating Lake, followed by a motorcade of motorcyclists from the Armed Forces Bikers and the Royal British Legion bikers. The Duke of Kent took the salute from the parade on behalf of The Queen and Royal Family. Afternoon celebrations in Cleethorpes continued across the seafront with a variety of military displays including the White Helmets Motorcycle Display Team. Overhead the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, a Chinook and the Royal Navy Black Cats Helicopters entertained the crowds.
-------------------------------------------------------
© Crown Copyright 2014
Photographer: Sgt Ross Tilly RAF
Image 45159885.jpg from www.defenceimages.mod.uk
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Campo com mais de 20 mil refugiados Yazidi, uma minoria de cultura politeista anterior ao islamismo, principais vitimas do Estado Islamico.
Viagem com Talita Ribeiro para o Curdistao Iraquiano.
You can call them whatever you want: ISIS, ISIL, Daesh (just don't call them an islamic state) -- but if any of us needs a reminder why these cockroaches need to go away, David Brooks' column in today's New York Times says it all. It also says just enough about the society and an American president who allowed this to grow, still failing to understand the depth of the problem and its implications for more horror.
When ISIS Rapists Win
By David Brooks
New York Times, August 28, 2015
_____________________
The ISIS atrocities have descended like distant nightmares upon the numbed conscious of the world. The first beheadings of Americans had the power to shock, but since then there has been a steady barrage of inhumanity: mass executions of Christians and others, throwing gay men from rooftops, the destruction of ancient archaeological treasures, the routine use of poison gas.
Even the recent reports in The Times about the Islamic State’s highly structured rape program have produced shock but barely a ripple of action.
And yet something bigger is going on. It’s as if some secret wormhole into a different historical epoch has been discovered and the knowledge of centuries is being unlearned.
This is happening in the moral sphere. State-sponsored slavery seemed like a thing of the past, but now ISIS is an unapologetic slave state. Yazidi women are carefully cataloged, warehoused and bid upon.
The rapes are theocratized. The rapists pray devoutly before and after the act. The religious leader’s handbook governing the rape program has a handy Frequently Asked Questions section for the young rapists:
“Question 12: May a man kiss the female slave of another, with the owner’s permission?
“A man may not kiss the female slave of another, for kissing [involves] pleasure, and pleasure is prohibited unless [the man] owns [the slave] exclusively.
“Question 13: Is it permissible to have intercourse with a female slave who hasn’t reached puberty?
“It is permissible to have intercourse with the female slave who hasn’t reached puberty if she is fit for intercourse; however, if she is not fit for intercourse it is enough to enjoy her without intercourse.”
This wasn’t supposed to happen in the 21st century. Western experts have stared the thing in the face, trying to figure out the cause and significance of the moral disaster we are witnessing. There was a very fine essay in The New York Review of Books by a veteran Middle East expert who chose to remain anonymous and who more or less threw up his hands.
“The clearest evidence that we do not understand this phenomenon is our consistent inability to predict — still less control — these developments,” the author writes. Every time we think ISIS has appalled the world and sabotaged itself, it holds its own or gains strength.
Writing in The National Interest, Ross Harrison shows how the ISIS wormhole into a different moral epoch is accompanied by a political wormhole designed to take the Middle East into a different geostrategic epoch. For the past many decades the Middle East has been defined by nation- states and the Arab mind has been influenced by nationalism. But these nation-states have been weakened (Egypt) or destroyed (Iraq and Syria). Nationalism no longer mobilizes popular passion or provides a convincing historical narrative.
ISIS has arisen, Harrison argues, to bury nationalism and to destroy the Arab nation-state.
“It is tapping into a belief that the pre-nationalist Islamic era represents the glorious halcyon days for the Arab world, while the later era in which secular nationalism flourished was one of decline and foreign domination,” he writes.
ISIS consistently tries to destroy the borders between nation-states. It undermines, confuses or smashes national identities. It eliminates national and pre-caliphate memories.
Meanwhile, it offers a confident vision of the future: a unified caliphate. It fills the vacuum left by decaying nationalist ideologies. As Harrison puts it, “ISIS has cut off almost all pathways to a future other than its self-proclaimed caliphate. The intent is to use this as a wedge with which to expand beyond its base in Iraq and Syria and weaken secular nationalist bonds in Lebanon, Jordan and in even more innately nationalist countries like Egypt.”
President Obama has said that ISIS stands for nothing but savagery. That’s clearly incorrect. Our military leaders speak of the struggle against ISIS as an attempt to kill as many ISIS leaders and soldiers as possible. But this is a war about a vision of history. ISIS ideas have legitimacy because it controls territory and has a place to enact them.
So far the response to ISIS has been pathetic. The U.S. pledged $500 million to train and equip Syrian moderates, hoping to create 15,000 fighters. After three years we turned out a grand total of 60 fighters, of whom a third were immediately captured.
It’s time to stop underestimating this force as some group of self-discrediting madmen. ISIS is a moral and political threat to the fragile and ugly stability that exists in what’s left in the Middle East. ISIS will thrive and spread its ideas for as long as it has its land.
We are looking into a future with a resurgent Iran, a contagious ISIS and a collapsing state order. If this isn’t a cause for alarm and reappraisal, I don’t know what is.
Rund 150 Menschen protestieren in Berlin mit einem Demonstrationszug vom Alexanderplatz zum Brandenburger Tor gegen das seit 1993 bestehende Verbot der Kurdischen Arbeiterpartei (PKK) in Deutschland.
In Reden wird darauf hingewiesen, dass insbesondere die Schwesterorganisationen der PKK, die YPG und YPJ in der nordsyrischen Provinz Rojava einen unschätzbaren Dienst im Kamp gegen Daesh leistet. Dies sogar im Zusammenspiel mit den USA.
Zudem sei Deutschland neben der Türkei das einzige Land, in dem die PKK verboten sei.
Some peshmergas take me to the front lines of the war against ISIS. I find myself in the Taza area, just south of Kirkuk, on the road to Baghdad.
According to them, very few journalists come here. Some even said that I was the only was they saw. Nonetheless, it is a key strategic location. It is very dangerous there since Kirkuk is divided: Kurds in the north, ISIS in the south. All along the front lines you can see different units roaming about little traditional houses. Some are kept by old Kurdish vets from the 1980s wars.
Many vets have returned to war, despite being well past middle-aged and having children and grandchildren. Some even behind comfortable lives in Europe to come back, like a Swiss colonel I met. For them, it is their duty to fight for their region. Despite being autonomous and having a large secessionist movement, Kurdistan is not recognized as a state distinct from Iraq. “Some terrorists come along and now the whole world calls them the ‘Islamic State’,” complains one peshmerga, “For decades we have been trying to make the state of Kurdistan and we’ve gotten nothing!”
They have very few weapons, most of them are pre-Cold War AK47s. Some even date back to 1960. They still work, but the Kurdish forces ask for more efficient guns since ISIS has the latest weapons taken (or given) from the Iraqi army who in turn was supplied by coalition forces.
Many vets have only one working eye. The other was lost in previous wars. Once night falls, it becomes very difficult to monitor the 1000km long border. They don’t even have night vision equipment.
Last week it rained for 5 days, and it was impossible to see or hear anything. Some ISIS guys tried to gain territory, but the Kurds successfully fought them off. Their 4 wheel drives were stuck in the mud while ISIS’s brand new hummers were able to move about without issue. From the front line you can see ISIS flags. Since they told me to pack light, I didn’t bring a zoom lens. Sorry! You can see the smoke from their kitchen and even see men running from house to house.
ISIS is only 500 meters from the Kurdish position but nobody seems afraid. Peshmerga know that death is part of their fate, and even if they look like an army from another century, they will defend themselves and their country to the very end. For them, it is the highest honor to die for Kurdistan.
They protect the Baghdad road, but a few weeks ago lost it. After heavy fighting, they regained it, killing 3 Chechen ISIS fighters in the process.
Since peshmerga don’t have armored cars, it is very dangerous for them to go around safely.
The car I took to go on the front lines was very slow and made in the 80s. If we were chased by ISIS cars, we wouldn’t have stood a chance. In one day, all the materiel I saw included AK47s, a tank, an RPG, and a few gun old machines. Even if the pehsmergas say that this equipment works well, they are disappointed not to receive new ones, as Europe and USA promised.
The day after my visit, France made lot of bombings in the area, as ISIS was too close. Peshmergas take a lot of pictures, not only for souvenirs, but also to fight ISIS on the new front: social media.
They fear the roads they do not know well as ISIS pays the local farmers to put mines. Even in times of war, peshmergas are among the most welcoming people in the world. They regularly offer food and drinks.
When it was time for me to go back to the safety of Erbil, circumstances changed. The north road was closed because of an ISIS attack. The only way out was to send me through the south road that crossed Kirkuk. Let’s just say that safety there was not ideal. I had to hide my camera, and we crossed Kirkuk with an escort of armed peshmergas and a civilian car.
The soldiers were all nervous since Kirkuk is very dangerous, especially at the check points. As soon as a car was driving next to ours for too long, they were shouting at the driver to go away.
If a man was crossing the road too slowly, they threatened to hit him. These methods, employed by ISIS suicide bombers, have claimed the lives of hundred in Kirkuk. Once on the Kurdish side, they found a Kurdish taxi driver to bring me safely back to Erbil.
© Eric Lafforgue
U.S. Air Force members prepare to pump fuel onto a C-17 Globemaster III in support of Operation Inherent Resolve in Kuwait, Aug. 16, 2015. OIR is the military intervention against Daesh. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Sandra Welch)
Some peshmergas take me to the front lines of the war against ISIS. I find myself in the Taza area, just south of Kirkuk, on the road to Baghdad.
According to them, very few journalists come here. Some even said that I was the only was they saw. Nonetheless, it is a key strategic location. It is very dangerous there since Kirkuk is divided: Kurds in the north, ISIS in the south. All along the front lines you can see different units roaming about little traditional houses. Some are kept by old Kurdish vets from the 1980s wars.
Many vets have returned to war, despite being well past middle-aged and having children and grandchildren. Some even behind comfortable lives in Europe to come back, like a Swiss colonel I met. For them, it is their duty to fight for their region. Despite being autonomous and having a large secessionist movement, Kurdistan is not recognized as a state distinct from Iraq. “Some terrorists come along and now the whole world calls them the ‘Islamic State’,” complains one peshmerga, “For decades we have been trying to make the state of Kurdistan and we’ve gotten nothing!”
They have very few weapons, most of them are pre-Cold War AK47s. Some even date back to 1960. They still work, but the Kurdish forces ask for more efficient guns since ISIS has the latest weapons taken (or given) from the Iraqi army who in turn was supplied by coalition forces.
Many vets have only one working eye. The other was lost in previous wars. Once night falls, it becomes very difficult to monitor the 1000km long border. They don’t even have night vision equipment.
Last week it rained for 5 days, and it was impossible to see or hear anything. Some ISIS guys tried to gain territory, but the Kurds successfully fought them off. Their 4 wheel drives were stuck in the mud while ISIS’s brand new hummers were able to move about without issue. From the front line you can see ISIS flags. Since they told me to pack light, I didn’t bring a zoom lens. Sorry! You can see the smoke from their kitchen and even see men running from house to house.
ISIS is only 500 meters from the Kurdish position but nobody seems afraid. Peshmerga know that death is part of their fate, and even if they look like an army from another century, they will defend themselves and their country to the very end. For them, it is the highest honor to die for Kurdistan.
They protect the Baghdad road, but a few weeks ago lost it. After heavy fighting, they regained it, killing 3 Chechen ISIS fighters in the process.
Since peshmerga don’t have armored cars, it is very dangerous for them to go around safely.
The car I took to go on the front lines was very slow and made in the 80s. If we were chased by ISIS cars, we wouldn’t have stood a chance. In one day, all the materiel I saw included AK47s, a tank, an RPG, and a few gun old machines. Even if the pehsmergas say that this equipment works well, they are disappointed not to receive new ones, as Europe and USA promised.
The day after my visit, France made lot of bombings in the area, as ISIS was too close. Peshmergas take a lot of pictures, not only for souvenirs, but also to fight ISIS on the new front: social media.
They fear the roads they do not know well as ISIS pays the local farmers to put mines. Even in times of war, peshmergas are among the most welcoming people in the world. They regularly offer food and drinks.
When it was time for me to go back to the safety of Erbil, circumstances changed. The north road was closed because of an ISIS attack. The only way out was to send me through the south road that crossed Kirkuk. Let’s just say that safety there was not ideal. I had to hide my camera, and we crossed Kirkuk with an escort of armed peshmergas and a civilian car.
The soldiers were all nervous since Kirkuk is very dangerous, especially at the check points. As soon as a car was driving next to ours for too long, they were shouting at the driver to go away.
If a man was crossing the road too slowly, they threatened to hit him. These methods, employed by ISIS suicide bombers, have claimed the lives of hundred in Kirkuk. Once on the Kurdish side, they found a Kurdish taxi driver to bring me safely back to Erbil.
© Eric Lafforgue
Some peshmergas take me to the front lines of the war against ISIS. I find myself in the Taza area, just south of Kirkuk, on the road to Baghdad.
According to them, very few journalists come here. Some even said that I was the only was they saw. Nonetheless, it is a key strategic location. It is very dangerous there since Kirkuk is divided: Kurds in the north, ISIS in the south. All along the front lines you can see different units roaming about little traditional houses. Some are kept by old Kurdish vets from the 1980s wars.
Many vets have returned to war, despite being well past middle-aged and having children and grandchildren. Some even behind comfortable lives in Europe to come back, like a Swiss colonel I met. For them, it is their duty to fight for their region. Despite being autonomous and having a large secessionist movement, Kurdistan is not recognized as a state distinct from Iraq. “Some terrorists come along and now the whole world calls them the ‘Islamic State’,” complains one peshmerga, “For decades we have been trying to make the state of Kurdistan and we’ve gotten nothing!”
They have very few weapons, most of them are pre-Cold War AK47s. Some even date back to 1960. They still work, but the Kurdish forces ask for more efficient guns since ISIS has the latest weapons taken (or given) from the Iraqi army who in turn was supplied by coalition forces.
Many vets have only one working eye. The other was lost in previous wars. Once night falls, it becomes very difficult to monitor the 1000km long border. They don’t even have night vision equipment.
Last week it rained for 5 days, and it was impossible to see or hear anything. Some ISIS guys tried to gain territory, but the Kurds successfully fought them off. Their 4 wheel drives were stuck in the mud while ISIS’s brand new hummers were able to move about without issue. From the front line you can see ISIS flags. Since they told me to pack light, I didn’t bring a zoom lens. Sorry! You can see the smoke from their kitchen and even see men running from house to house.
ISIS is only 500 meters from the Kurdish position but nobody seems afraid. Peshmerga know that death is part of their fate, and even if they look like an army from another century, they will defend themselves and their country to the very end. For them, it is the highest honor to die for Kurdistan.
They protect the Baghdad road, but a few weeks ago lost it. After heavy fighting, they regained it, killing 3 Chechen ISIS fighters in the process.
Since peshmerga don’t have armored cars, it is very dangerous for them to go around safely.
The car I took to go on the front lines was very slow and made in the 80s. If we were chased by ISIS cars, we wouldn’t have stood a chance. In one day, all the materiel I saw included AK47s, a tank, an RPG, and a few gun old machines. Even if the pehsmergas say that this equipment works well, they are disappointed not to receive new ones, as Europe and USA promised.
The day after my visit, France made lot of bombings in the area, as ISIS was too close. Peshmergas take a lot of pictures, not only for souvenirs, but also to fight ISIS on the new front: social media.
They fear the roads they do not know well as ISIS pays the local farmers to put mines. Even in times of war, peshmergas are among the most welcoming people in the world. They regularly offer food and drinks.
When it was time for me to go back to the safety of Erbil, circumstances changed. The north road was closed because of an ISIS attack. The only way out was to send me through the south road that crossed Kirkuk. Let’s just say that safety there was not ideal. I had to hide my camera, and we crossed Kirkuk with an escort of armed peshmergas and a civilian car.
The soldiers were all nervous since Kirkuk is very dangerous, especially at the check points. As soon as a car was driving next to ours for too long, they were shouting at the driver to go away.
If a man was crossing the road too slowly, they threatened to hit him. These methods, employed by ISIS suicide bombers, have claimed the lives of hundred in Kirkuk. Once on the Kurdish side, they found a Kurdish taxi driver to bring me safely back to Erbil.
© Eric Lafforgue
Some peshmergas take me to the front lines of the war against ISIS. I find myself in the Taza area, just south of Kirkuk, on the road to Baghdad.
According to them, very few journalists come here. Some even said that I was the only was they saw. Nonetheless, it is a key strategic location. It is very dangerous there since Kirkuk is divided: Kurds in the north, ISIS in the south. All along the front lines you can see different units roaming about little traditional houses. Some are kept by old Kurdish vets from the 1980s wars.
Many vets have returned to war, despite being well past middle-aged and having children and grandchildren. Some even behind comfortable lives in Europe to come back, like a Swiss colonel I met. For them, it is their duty to fight for their region. Despite being autonomous and having a large secessionist movement, Kurdistan is not recognized as a state distinct from Iraq. “Some terrorists come along and now the whole world calls them the ‘Islamic State’,” complains one peshmerga, “For decades we have been trying to make the state of Kurdistan and we’ve gotten nothing!”
They have very few weapons, most of them are pre-Cold War AK47s. Some even date back to 1960. They still work, but the Kurdish forces ask for more efficient guns since ISIS has the latest weapons taken (or given) from the Iraqi army who in turn was supplied by coalition forces.
Many vets have only one working eye. The other was lost in previous wars. Once night falls, it becomes very difficult to monitor the 1000km long border. They don’t even have night vision equipment.
Last week it rained for 5 days, and it was impossible to see or hear anything. Some ISIS guys tried to gain territory, but the Kurds successfully fought them off. Their 4 wheel drives were stuck in the mud while ISIS’s brand new hummers were able to move about without issue. From the front line you can see ISIS flags. Since they told me to pack light, I didn’t bring a zoom lens. Sorry! You can see the smoke from their kitchen and even see men running from house to house.
ISIS is only 500 meters from the Kurdish position but nobody seems afraid. Peshmerga know that death is part of their fate, and even if they look like an army from another century, they will defend themselves and their country to the very end. For them, it is the highest honor to die for Kurdistan.
They protect the Baghdad road, but a few weeks ago lost it. After heavy fighting, they regained it, killing 3 Chechen ISIS fighters in the process.
Since peshmerga don’t have armored cars, it is very dangerous for them to go around safely.
The car I took to go on the front lines was very slow and made in the 80s. If we were chased by ISIS cars, we wouldn’t have stood a chance. In one day, all the materiel I saw included AK47s, a tank, an RPG, and a few gun old machines. Even if the pehsmergas say that this equipment works well, they are disappointed not to receive new ones, as Europe and USA promised.
The day after my visit, France made lot of bombings in the area, as ISIS was too close. Peshmergas take a lot of pictures, not only for souvenirs, but also to fight ISIS on the new front: social media.
They fear the roads they do not know well as ISIS pays the local farmers to put mines. Even in times of war, peshmergas are among the most welcoming people in the world. They regularly offer food and drinks.
When it was time for me to go back to the safety of Erbil, circumstances changed. The north road was closed because of an ISIS attack. The only way out was to send me through the south road that crossed Kirkuk. Let’s just say that safety there was not ideal. I had to hide my camera, and we crossed Kirkuk with an escort of armed peshmergas and a civilian car.
The soldiers were all nervous since Kirkuk is very dangerous, especially at the check points. As soon as a car was driving next to ours for too long, they were shouting at the driver to go away.
If a man was crossing the road too slowly, they threatened to hit him. These methods, employed by ISIS suicide bombers, have claimed the lives of hundred in Kirkuk. Once on the Kurdish side, they found a Kurdish taxi driver to bring me safely back to Erbil.
© Eric Lafforgue
A few kilometers outside of Dohuk, Iraq, what was supposed to be a five-star hotel has become a nightmarish makeshift refugee camp. After ISIS attacked Sinjar, massacring and enslaving the local Yazidi people, a few of those fortunate enough to escape have sought refuge at the massive “Hotel Kayar” (literally “place where one receives friends). With construction stalled in its early stages, the concrete structure is an inhospitable environment for the 63 Yazidi families who now call it home. Children play with no railing or walls to prevent them from falling. “We just want tents like the other refugees,” said one man, after a storm recently ravaged the little infrastructure they managed to set up in the two months they’ve been here. With a cold winter right around the corner and scarce food and water, the future looks dire.And the kids keep smiling...
© Eric Lafforgue
Some peshmergas take me to the front lines of the war against ISIS. I find myself in the Taza area, just south of Kirkuk, on the road to Baghdad.
According to them, very few journalists come here. Some even said that I was the only was they saw. Nonetheless, it is a key strategic location. It is very dangerous there since Kirkuk is divided: Kurds in the north, ISIS in the south. All along the front lines you can see different units roaming about little traditional houses. Some are kept by old Kurdish vets from the 1980s wars.
Many vets have returned to war, despite being well past middle-aged and having children and grandchildren. Some even behind comfortable lives in Europe to come back, like a Swiss colonel I met. For them, it is their duty to fight for their region. Despite being autonomous and having a large secessionist movement, Kurdistan is not recognized as a state distinct from Iraq. “Some terrorists come along and now the whole world calls them the ‘Islamic State’,” complains one peshmerga, “For decades we have been trying to make the state of Kurdistan and we’ve gotten nothing!”
They have very few weapons, most of them are pre-Cold War AK47s. Some even date back to 1960. They still work, but the Kurdish forces ask for more efficient guns since ISIS has the latest weapons taken (or given) from the Iraqi army who in turn was supplied by coalition forces.
Many vets have only one working eye. The other was lost in previous wars. Once night falls, it becomes very difficult to monitor the 1000km long border. They don’t even have night vision equipment.
Last week it rained for 5 days, and it was impossible to see or hear anything. Some ISIS guys tried to gain territory, but the Kurds successfully fought them off. Their 4 wheel drives were stuck in the mud while ISIS’s brand new hummers were able to move about without issue. From the front line you can see ISIS flags. Since they told me to pack light, I didn’t bring a zoom lens. Sorry! You can see the smoke from their kitchen and even see men running from house to house.
ISIS is only 500 meters from the Kurdish position but nobody seems afraid. Peshmerga know that death is part of their fate, and even if they look like an army from another century, they will defend themselves and their country to the very end. For them, it is the highest honor to die for Kurdistan.
They protect the Baghdad road, but a few weeks ago lost it. After heavy fighting, they regained it, killing 3 Chechen ISIS fighters in the process.
Since peshmerga don’t have armored cars, it is very dangerous for them to go around safely.
The car I took to go on the front lines was very slow and made in the 80s. If we were chased by ISIS cars, we wouldn’t have stood a chance. In one day, all the materiel I saw included AK47s, a tank, an RPG, and a few gun old machines. Even if the pehsmergas say that this equipment works well, they are disappointed not to receive new ones, as Europe and USA promised.
The day after my visit, France made lot of bombings in the area, as ISIS was too close. Peshmergas take a lot of pictures, not only for souvenirs, but also to fight ISIS on the new front: social media.
They fear the roads they do not know well as ISIS pays the local farmers to put mines. Even in times of war, peshmergas are among the most welcoming people in the world. They regularly offer food and drinks.
When it was time for me to go back to the safety of Erbil, circumstances changed. The north road was closed because of an ISIS attack. The only way out was to send me through the south road that crossed Kirkuk. Let’s just say that safety there was not ideal. I had to hide my camera, and we crossed Kirkuk with an escort of armed peshmergas and a civilian car.
The soldiers were all nervous since Kirkuk is very dangerous, especially at the check points. As soon as a car was driving next to ours for too long, they were shouting at the driver to go away.
If a man was crossing the road too slowly, they threatened to hit him. These methods, employed by ISIS suicide bombers, have claimed the lives of hundred in Kirkuk. Once on the Kurdish side, they found a Kurdish taxi driver to bring me safely back to Erbil.
© Eric Lafforgue
A few kilometers outside of Dohuk, Iraq, what was supposed to be a five-star hotel has become a nightmarish makeshift refugee camp. After ISIS attacked Sinjar, massacring and enslaving the local Yazidi people, a few of those fortunate enough to escape have sought refuge at the massive “Hotel Kayar” (literally “place where one receives friends). With construction stalled in its early stages, the concrete structure is an inhospitable environment for the 63 Yazidi families who now call it home. Children play with no railing or walls to prevent them from falling. “We just want tents like the other refugees,” said one man, after a storm recently ravaged the little infrastructure they managed to set up in the two months they’ve been here. With a cold winter right around the corner and scarce food and water, the future looks dire.And the kids keep smiling...
© Eric Lafforgue
Some peshmergas take me to the front lines of the war against ISIS. I find myself in the Taza area, just south of Kirkuk, on the road to Baghdad.
According to them, very few journalists come here. Some even said that I was the only was they saw. Nonetheless, it is a key strategic location. It is very dangerous there since Kirkuk is divided: Kurds in the north, ISIS in the south. All along the front lines you can see different units roaming about little traditional houses. Some are kept by old Kurdish vets from the 1980s wars.
Many vets have returned to war, despite being well past middle-aged and having children and grandchildren. Some even behind comfortable lives in Europe to come back, like a Swiss colonel I met. For them, it is their duty to fight for their region. Despite being autonomous and having a large secessionist movement, Kurdistan is not recognized as a state distinct from Iraq. “Some terrorists come along and now the whole world calls them the ‘Islamic State’,” complains one peshmerga, “For decades we have been trying to make the state of Kurdistan and we’ve gotten nothing!”
They have very few weapons, most of them are pre-Cold War AK47s. Some even date back to 1960. They still work, but the Kurdish forces ask for more efficient guns since ISIS has the latest weapons taken (or given) from the Iraqi army who in turn was supplied by coalition forces.
Many vets have only one working eye. The other was lost in previous wars. Once night falls, it becomes very difficult to monitor the 1000km long border. They don’t even have night vision equipment.
Last week it rained for 5 days, and it was impossible to see or hear anything. Some ISIS guys tried to gain territory, but the Kurds successfully fought them off. Their 4 wheel drives were stuck in the mud while ISIS’s brand new hummers were able to move about without issue. From the front line you can see ISIS flags. Since they told me to pack light, I didn’t bring a zoom lens. Sorry! You can see the smoke from their kitchen and even see men running from house to house.
ISIS is only 500 meters from the Kurdish position but nobody seems afraid. Peshmerga know that death is part of their fate, and even if they look like an army from another century, they will defend themselves and their country to the very end. For them, it is the highest honor to die for Kurdistan.
They protect the Baghdad road, but a few weeks ago lost it. After heavy fighting, they regained it, killing 3 Chechen ISIS fighters in the process.
Since peshmerga don’t have armored cars, it is very dangerous for them to go around safely.
The car I took to go on the front lines was very slow and made in the 80s. If we were chased by ISIS cars, we wouldn’t have stood a chance. In one day, all the materiel I saw included AK47s, a tank, an RPG, and a few gun old machines. Even if the pehsmergas say that this equipment works well, they are disappointed not to receive new ones, as Europe and USA promised.
The day after my visit, France made lot of bombings in the area, as ISIS was too close. Peshmergas take a lot of pictures, not only for souvenirs, but also to fight ISIS on the new front: social media.
They fear the roads they do not know well as ISIS pays the local farmers to put mines. Even in times of war, peshmergas are among the most welcoming people in the world. They regularly offer food and drinks.
When it was time for me to go back to the safety of Erbil, circumstances changed. The north road was closed because of an ISIS attack. The only way out was to send me through the south road that crossed Kirkuk. Let’s just say that safety there was not ideal. I had to hide my camera, and we crossed Kirkuk with an escort of armed peshmergas and a civilian car.
The soldiers were all nervous since Kirkuk is very dangerous, especially at the check points. As soon as a car was driving next to ours for too long, they were shouting at the driver to go away.
If a man was crossing the road too slowly, they threatened to hit him. These methods, employed by ISIS suicide bombers, have claimed the lives of hundred in Kirkuk. Once on the Kurdish side, they found a Kurdish taxi driver to bring me safely back to Erbil.
© Eric Lafforgue
Some peshmergas take me to the front lines of the war against ISIS. I find myself in the Taza area, just south of Kirkuk, on the road to Baghdad.
According to them, very few journalists come here. Some even said that I was the only was they saw. Nonetheless, it is a key strategic location. It is very dangerous there since Kirkuk is divided: Kurds in the north, ISIS in the south. All along the front lines you can see different units roaming about little traditional houses. Some are kept by old Kurdish vets from the 1980s wars.
Many vets have returned to war, despite being well past middle-aged and having children and grandchildren. Some even behind comfortable lives in Europe to come back, like a Swiss colonel I met. For them, it is their duty to fight for their region. Despite being autonomous and having a large secessionist movement, Kurdistan is not recognized as a state distinct from Iraq. “Some terrorists come along and now the whole world calls them the ‘Islamic State’,” complains one peshmerga, “For decades we have been trying to make the state of Kurdistan and we’ve gotten nothing!”
They have very few weapons, most of them are pre-Cold War AK47s. Some even date back to 1960. They still work, but the Kurdish forces ask for more efficient guns since ISIS has the latest weapons taken (or given) from the Iraqi army who in turn was supplied by coalition forces.
Many vets have only one working eye. The other was lost in previous wars. Once night falls, it becomes very difficult to monitor the 1000km long border. They don’t even have night vision equipment.
Last week it rained for 5 days, and it was impossible to see or hear anything. Some ISIS guys tried to gain territory, but the Kurds successfully fought them off. Their 4 wheel drives were stuck in the mud while ISIS’s brand new hummers were able to move about without issue. From the front line you can see ISIS flags. Since they told me to pack light, I didn’t bring a zoom lens. Sorry! You can see the smoke from their kitchen and even see men running from house to house.
ISIS is only 500 meters from the Kurdish position but nobody seems afraid. Peshmerga know that death is part of their fate, and even if they look like an army from another century, they will defend themselves and their country to the very end. For them, it is the highest honor to die for Kurdistan.
They protect the Baghdad road, but a few weeks ago lost it. After heavy fighting, they regained it, killing 3 Chechen ISIS fighters in the process.
Since peshmerga don’t have armored cars, it is very dangerous for them to go around safely.
The car I took to go on the front lines was very slow and made in the 80s. If we were chased by ISIS cars, we wouldn’t have stood a chance. In one day, all the materiel I saw included AK47s, a tank, an RPG, and a few gun old machines. Even if the pehsmergas say that this equipment works well, they are disappointed not to receive new ones, as Europe and USA promised.
The day after my visit, France made lot of bombings in the area, as ISIS was too close. Peshmergas take a lot of pictures, not only for souvenirs, but also to fight ISIS on the new front: social media.
They fear the roads they do not know well as ISIS pays the local farmers to put mines. Even in times of war, peshmergas are among the most welcoming people in the world. They regularly offer food and drinks.
When it was time for me to go back to the safety of Erbil, circumstances changed. The north road was closed because of an ISIS attack. The only way out was to send me through the south road that crossed Kirkuk. Let’s just say that safety there was not ideal. I had to hide my camera, and we crossed Kirkuk with an escort of armed peshmergas and a civilian car.
The soldiers were all nervous since Kirkuk is very dangerous, especially at the check points. As soon as a car was driving next to ours for too long, they were shouting at the driver to go away.
If a man was crossing the road too slowly, they threatened to hit him. These methods, employed by ISIS suicide bombers, have claimed the lives of hundred in Kirkuk. Once on the Kurdish side, they found a Kurdish taxi driver to bring me safely back to Erbil.
© Eric Lafforgue
President Schulz reiterated the need to use the weapons of tolerance, solidarity, friendship and humanity to fight Daesh, al-Shabaab and other terrorist organisations. He cited the bomb attacks in Turkey, Egypt and Somalia this weekend as the latest examples of a scourge that has plagued the whole world in 2016 and conveyed Parliament’s deepest sympathy to the families and friends of the victims of all these human tragedies.
Read more on the opening of the plenary: www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/20161208IPR55149...
This photo is copyright free, but must be credited: © European Union 2016 - European Parliament. (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons license). If you need high resolution files do not hesitate to contact us. Please do not forget to send the link or a copy of the publication to us: photobookings(AT)europarl.europa.eu
Robin Williams' shenanigans comes to mind, particularly the time when he appeared on an episode of The Tonight Show when it was last hosted by Conan O'Brien, just after NBC had announced they had cancelled his contract to host the show.
On the episode (as seen on YouTube in the link), Robin Williams stood up and started dancing an impromptu Irish jig, and sang to the NBC executives, "FUCK THE BASTARDS, THEY CAN'T TAKE A JOKE!"
The moment we cannot laugh at ourselves is the moment we begin to die, because we show how sick we truly are. Humor, sarcasm, mockery, satire, etc., are ALL part of a healthy society and culture.
They have been, and always will be.
We don't want to become like Daesh, do we - those Middle Eastern terrorist extremists which are so rigidly-right-wing-radical-religious that they can't take a joke, and decapitate anyone whom disagrees!?
We DO NOT want to become like them, do we?
NO!
We DO NOT!
So mock away!
Charlie Hebdo, anyone?
I'll fire the first salvo:
• Pet Crematory Unsure If Pot-Bellied Pet Pigs Were Barbecued
• Pet Crematory Denies Burning Pussy Is Public Health Problem
• Pet Crematory Says Smoking Hot Body Was A Bitch
• Pet Crematory Fire Occurs Day After Ash Wednesday: Local Church Denies Involvement
• Chicken Overcooked in Pet Crematory Fire
• Fire Marshall Declares "Free Food Day" For Homeless Following Pet Crematory Fire
Pet Crematory Accidentally Burns Dead Animals For Free
Investigators Sift Through Charred Remains
NOWTHEN, MN - An early morning fire of unknown origin saved many residents money when a fire burned a pet crematory in the early morning hours. Firefighters on scene said no injuries were reported, and investigators will later sift through the rubble for a possible cause.
The aroma of burning pets, however, aroused area vagrants, some of whom drove to the site mistakenly seeking a community cook-out.
As police held off the homeless seeking free food, firefighters arrived shortly to extinguish the ashes of pet poodles, potbellied pigs, purloined Pomeranians and pussies which had apparently been burnt to a crisp… all without charge.
Owner Pyralis Adroushan, who arrived shortly after firefighters, said, “Fortunately for us, we won’t lose much. And yes, I’m going to charge those pets’ owners for their cremation. They were burned, weren’t they? After all, we’re in the burning business.”
“But I just don’t know how we’re going to start all over again,” added Pyralis Adroushan. “I guess we can find some matches, lighter fluid, and bag of charcoal at the convenience store.”
Adrousahn has owned the business for over 15 years, and purchased it from Py Roma Niac, who was convicted of arson, and imprisoned shortly after the sale.
Law Enforcement Authorities said no lives were lost, and authorities on scene said no injuries were reported.
One homeless man who refused to give his name said, “The whole town smelt delicious! I thought they was having a cookout, which is why I had done come down here in the dead of night.”
He was last seen walking away holding two bottles of barbecue sauce, a loaf of bread, and six-pack of beer.
Bundesministerin der Verteidigung, Ursula von der Leyen, spricht mit Wartungstechnikern der Tornados im Rahmen ihres Truppenbesuches in Al-Asrak/Jordanien, am 13.01.2018.
©Bundeswehr/Jana Neumann
Rund 150 Menschen protestieren in Berlin mit einem Demonstrationszug vom Alexanderplatz zum Brandenburger Tor gegen das seit 1993 bestehende Verbot der Kurdischen Arbeiterpartei (PKK) in Deutschland.
In Reden wird darauf hingewiesen, dass insbesondere die Schwesterorganisationen der PKK, die YPG und YPJ in der nordsyrischen Provinz Rojava einen unschätzbaren Dienst im Kamp gegen Daesh leistet. Dies sogar im Zusammenspiel mit den USA.
Zudem sei Deutschland neben der Türkei das einzige Land, in dem die PKK verboten sei.
Some peshmergas take me to the front lines of the war against ISIS. I find myself in the Taza area, just south of Kirkuk, on the road to Baghdad.
According to them, very few journalists come here. Some even said that I was the only was they saw. Nonetheless, it is a key strategic location. It is very dangerous there since Kirkuk is divided: Kurds in the north, ISIS in the south. All along the front lines you can see different units roaming about little traditional houses. Some are kept by old Kurdish vets from the 1980s wars.
Many vets have returned to war, despite being well past middle-aged and having children and grandchildren. Some even behind comfortable lives in Europe to come back, like a Swiss colonel I met. For them, it is their duty to fight for their region. Despite being autonomous and having a large secessionist movement, Kurdistan is not recognized as a state distinct from Iraq. “Some terrorists come along and now the whole world calls them the ‘Islamic State’,” complains one peshmerga, “For decades we have been trying to make the state of Kurdistan and we’ve gotten nothing!”
They have very few weapons, most of them are pre-Cold War AK47s. Some even date back to 1960. They still work, but the Kurdish forces ask for more efficient guns since ISIS has the latest weapons taken (or given) from the Iraqi army who in turn was supplied by coalition forces.
Many vets have only one working eye. The other was lost in previous wars. Once night falls, it becomes very difficult to monitor the 1000km long border. They don’t even have night vision equipment.
Last week it rained for 5 days, and it was impossible to see or hear anything. Some ISIS guys tried to gain territory, but the Kurds successfully fought them off. Their 4 wheel drives were stuck in the mud while ISIS’s brand new hummers were able to move about without issue. From the front line you can see ISIS flags. Since they told me to pack light, I didn’t bring a zoom lens. Sorry! You can see the smoke from their kitchen and even see men running from house to house.
ISIS is only 500 meters from the Kurdish position but nobody seems afraid. Peshmerga know that death is part of their fate, and even if they look like an army from another century, they will defend themselves and their country to the very end. For them, it is the highest honor to die for Kurdistan.
They protect the Baghdad road, but a few weeks ago lost it. After heavy fighting, they regained it, killing 3 Chechen ISIS fighters in the process.
Since peshmerga don’t have armored cars, it is very dangerous for them to go around safely.
The car I took to go on the front lines was very slow and made in the 80s. If we were chased by ISIS cars, we wouldn’t have stood a chance. In one day, all the materiel I saw included AK47s, a tank, an RPG, and a few gun old machines. Even if the pehsmergas say that this equipment works well, they are disappointed not to receive new ones, as Europe and USA promised.
The day after my visit, France made lot of bombings in the area, as ISIS was too close. Peshmergas take a lot of pictures, not only for souvenirs, but also to fight ISIS on the new front: social media.
They fear the roads they do not know well as ISIS pays the local farmers to put mines. Even in times of war, peshmergas are among the most welcoming people in the world. They regularly offer food and drinks.
When it was time for me to go back to the safety of Erbil, circumstances changed. The north road was closed because of an ISIS attack. The only way out was to send me through the south road that crossed Kirkuk. Let’s just say that safety there was not ideal. I had to hide my camera, and we crossed Kirkuk with an escort of armed peshmergas and a civilian car.
The soldiers were all nervous since Kirkuk is very dangerous, especially at the check points. As soon as a car was driving next to ours for too long, they were shouting at the driver to go away.
If a man was crossing the road too slowly, they threatened to hit him. These methods, employed by ISIS suicide bombers, have claimed the lives of hundred in Kirkuk. Once on the Kurdish side, they found a Kurdish taxi driver to bring me safely back to Erbil.
© Eric Lafforgue
Mehrere hundert Syrer protestieren in Berlin anlässlich des fünften Jahrestages der syrischen Revolution in Berlin gegen das Regime von Baschar al-Assad und seinen engsten Verbündeten, den russischen Präsidenten Wladimir Putin.
Nach einer Kundgebung am Brandenburger Tor ziehen die Demonstranten in die Nähe der russischen Botschaft und wieder zurück. In Reden bekennen sich die Teilnehmer zu Demokratie und Freiheit und fordern ein Ende des syrischen Regimes als Voraussetzung für eine positive Zukunft Syriens.
Der Aufstand der Syrer gegen Diktator Baschar al-Assad begann vor fünf Jahren am 15. März 2011, als Jugendliche "Das Volk will den Sturz des Regimes" an eine Wand in Daraa sprühten, verhaftet und gefoltert wurden. Die anschließenden, friedlichen Demonstrationen im Zuge des "Arabischen Frühlings", wurden vom Regime blutig beantwortet.
In den letzten fünf Jahren haben nach Schätzungen rund 280.000 Menschen ihr Leben verloren, Millionen sind auf der Flucht, viele Städte zerstört, Zehntausende nach wie vor in den Foltergefängnissen des Regimes und Teile des Landes in der Hand der Terrororganisation Daesh.