Going to death

In November, the Kurdish Armed Forces (Peshmerga*) repelled several settlements in Iraq from the IG fighters **. The New Times talked with a direct participant in hostilities, a high -ranking Kurdish military, about how terrorists fight and in which their strengths and weaknesses

Shamsaddin Mustafa Stuna (right) with associates, Shangal (Sinjar), Iraq, November 12, 2015

General Shamsaddin Mustafa Stuna was born in 1952 in the Barzan region - Kurdish northern Iraqi district on the border with Turkey. In 1974, along with 20 others, Peshmerga was held military training in Israel. He became a participant in the September uprising in 1975 ( the struggle of the Kurds led by Mustafa Barzani for independence against the Iraqi government, which continued from 1961 to 1975. - NT ). Since 1966 (from the age of 14) he actually served without a break and now continues to serve as Peshmerg.

The militants of IG * ** * are also merciless to their deserters - they are killed publicly and cruelly

Have you retired until 2014?

Yes, three years - after he received his fourth wound.

And after that they returned to the front?

In our Kurdistan, there is a tradition: the most authoritative representatives of society should first respond to the call to protect the Motherland, otherwise they risk taping their reputation. We were called by President Masud Barzani (son of Mustafa Barzani.- NT ) after an attack on Shangal ( Kurdish name of the Ezid city of Sinjara, located in the north-west of Iraq. - NT ) in August 2014. The call of Kurdistan or Death returned to the ranks of Peshmerg many retired and veterans - Barzani himself at the same period assumed the command precisely in accordance with this tradition. For me, this is an honor, as for my two sons - they are also fighting.

Strategy and Tactics of militants

You are fighting against the fighters of IG **. Do they have any special advantages? What is their strength on the battlefield?

They really have significant advantages. First of all, it is the power of fanatical beliefs when the death for any militant Daash ** ( the general calls IG ** Arabic acronym. - NT ) - the desired key to the Islamic paradise. I remember once I saw the real “keys to paradise” hanging on the necks of the Shiite soldiers of Iran who fought against the army of Saddam Hussein. These keys blessed them on a “sacred” war, and the soldiers proudly wore them, wishing their deaths.

The second is financial power. It is visible by indirect manifestations, for example, by the number of recruited specialists (chemists, physicists, engineers, IT).

The third is the weapon for which they should more thanly thank the Iraq army. After her hasty retreat, there are a lot of modern weapons, which the United States was supplied for several years, the militants went.

Well, the fourth is inventive and cruel military tactics.

Who and what territories control in Iraq

Source: Institute of United Conflicta Analysts

Tell us more about it.

These are, for example, tunnels network, which consist of Steplen 10-12 m depth and are interconnected by underground sleeves and bunkers. We recently found such tunnels in the liberated Shangala (Shangal was repelled by Peshmerga from IG fighters ** November 13, 2015. - NT ). The slaves and captives are forced to dig, the tunnies themselves are equipped with numerous climbs, there is electricity and ammunition is stored. In them, militants are hiding from the bombing of the coalition.

Terrorists widely use mines and homemade explosive devices - they make and place them in huge quantities. We are fighting among the mines, they minute everything: from refrigerators to the corpses of their militants. We have to manually cleanse hundreds of ammunition every day, although special equipment should be delivered to us. It happens that soldiers and miners do not sleep for several nights.

In addition, they use gas cylinders as shells, make chemical attacks (for example, in the Guera and Mosul area) and suicide attacks on armored and filled with explosives. It is completely impossible to resist such attacks. Filled "to the eyeballs" explosives, they crashed into the front line and exploded among the enemy forces. Only from the sound of explosions did people stall in a radius of a kilometer. However, now the situation has improved - recently Germany is supplied to us by Milan anti -tank missiles.

The militants also use weather conditions that worsen visibility: night time, sandstorms, fog. Recently they began to practice double attacks - when the enemy who repelled the first attack suddenly attacks the second time. They also began to make sorties to the already liberated areas - recently, six Peshmerg killed the Moska dam.

Is terror in the captured territories also playing a role?

Yes, this is important. The first thing the militants do after the capture of the settlements is public executions that shoot on the video and post on the Internet, and this terrifies the inhabitants of other countries. They are also merciless to their deserters - they are killed publicly and cruelly.

By the way, in my opinion, they do not do without drugs. Almost all the living militants I saw looked like drunk.

And among Peshmerg there are rumors that in the pockets of the dead they find handfuls of exciting tablets.

How the Kurds are fighting

The New Times learned from the representative of the “Democratic Party of Kurdistan” Khoshavi Babakra, as Peshmerga collaborate with other ground forces of the region in the fight against IG **

There is no military interaction with the Iraqi army. Only in Tuz-Khurmat (a city in the north-east of Iraq.- NT ) with the Shiite militias "Hashd al-Shaabi", blessed in the war with IG ** by the Iraqi government and armed Iran by decree of Ali Sistani (one of the spiritual leaders of the Shiites.- NT ). The relations are bad with them - they abduct local Sunnis and Kurds, after which they require a ransom for them.

The Minister of Defense of Iraq Khaled al-Obeydi recently visited Kurdistan proposed transporting the Iraqi units to Kurdistan by airplanes and from there to start an attack on Mosul with Peshmerga. It is clear that here Peshmerga will be the main warring force.

I also want to emphasize that in the Kurdistan war against IG ** the Iraq government did not help any dinar.

We try not to encounter Syrian “detachments of folk self -defense”, since these are our brothers with whom we have disagreements in the methods of struggle and management. Including in Shangal, where they installed their checkpoints and created offices, although we insistently did not invite them there. This party struggle forced the mayor of Shangal Mahl Khalil to call on all parties to free local state institutions in order to allow us to normally lead the restoration of the city.

As for the Iranian Kurds, that is, those who, in the form of volunteers, joined the forces of Peshmerg, but there are very few of them. Iran does not allow to do this officially, because he is afraid that the Iranian Kurds will gain military experience.

Success and failures of Peshmerga

The Kurds are called the most effective fighters against IG **, but in August 2014 they suffered a number of defeats.

You see, it was really impossible to resist their weapons. It was the most advanced, most powerful weapons of the United States, the Daash ** of the seven divisions of Iraq. We had only Kalashnikov machine guns and Soviet 2-mm guns.

Now, as you said, you have already begun to supply new weapons ...

Everything that we have now appeared only recently thanks to Germany, France and other members of the coalition. Now we have night vision devices, Milan and new artillery. We have many foreign instructors who taught us the technologies of modern battle. The gunners are trained in coalition forces and became more well -aimed. The coalition raises the bombers no later than 15–20 minutes after the start of the Daash attacks ** . And now Daash ** has a fear of Peshmerg. They are not at all afraid of the Iraqi army or Shiite militias, but they are afraid of Peshmerga. I also want to say that we really underestimate the role of women -soldier. I know that if they fought shoulder to shoulder with men, not a single Peshmerga would have taken a step back.

It was the most advanced, most powerful weapons of the United States, the Daash ** of the seven divisions of Iraq. We had only Kalashnikov machine guns and Soviet 2-mm guns

Tell us about the last battles in which you participated.

Recently, under the mountains of Shangala, we freed the village of Gulat. Daash ** was strongly resisted - 40 people killed - no one ran away. Then four Peshmerga died - two from Iraq and two from Syria.

Members of Kurdish self -defense detachments?

No. You see, we are fighting several hundred Syrian Kurds, but they all officially enter Peshmerga.

Then there were battles in the south of the Shangal district, at the military base of the times of Saddam - several huge hangars, tested several times, but still dangerous - there are so many mines that you can’t find everything right away, you can’t live there. They spread the tent camp for Peshmerg. Suddenly three militants came out, opened fire - they wounded 8 or 9 Peshmerg. One of the wounded, my acquaintance, was then taken to heal to Turkey. Two Daash ** exploded, we killed one.

The liberation of Shangal himself went from three sides at once. Barzani personally commanded, and this is good, because only everyone listens to him and fulfill his orders. He was in contact with all his might, including coalition forces. His brother, Sikhat Barzani, leads our heavy artillery, which finally appeared. In total, we destroyed more than 350 militants there.

Now Daash ** is thrown from Shangal more than 20 km. But in order to finally protect him, you need to knock out the militants from Mosul. This is a large city, before the war there were 4 million people. His release will require up to 100 thousand soldiers, and now in Shangala 7500 local trained and armed Ezids. They passed a long, annual military training at the Higher Military Academy of Kurdistan, the Academy of Tigers (its cadets wear stripes with the image of tigers) to be able to independently protect their area. We build trenches and fortifications there, since on the other side of the border with Syria is also Daash ** . They can attack, but we cannot retreat again ...

 ***** “going to death”, “looking into the face of death” - a literal translation of the Kurdish word “Peshmerg”.

** IG, or ISIS (“Islamic State”), or Daash (Daesh, Daish) - a terrorist organization prohibited in the Russian Federation.

Photo from the personal archive of Shamsaddin Mustafa Stuny