"We will defeat Hamas how ISIS won the world"

On January 25, 2024, Doxa was recognized as an “unwanted organization”.

If you are in Russia or plan to return to it, you can not replace our materials on social networks, refer to them and publish quotes.

Read more about what is possible and impossible, read in the cards .

The Israeli authorities, as well as the Western politicians, periodically compare the Palestinian hamas with ISIS. They say that the victory over Hamas is as inevitable as the victory over the Islamic state, which lost most of the territories in 2017 and has since disappeared from the radar of the world media.

Lisa Shishko, a journalist and author of the channel “ Woman, Life, Freedom ”, lives in the northeast of Syria, from where she covered the struggle of local self-defense units with ISIS. In the DOXA column, Lisa talks about why one cannot agree with the comparison of Hamas and ISIS, and who actually contributed to the restraint of the Islamist group in Iraq and Syria.

• Author

  

  Author

  Liza Shishko

• Editor

  Editor

  Armen Araman

• Illustrator

  Illustrator

  Vitya Ershov

• Publication

  October 23, 2023

On October 9, on the third day after the attack, Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said : “Hamas is ISIS. And Israel will defeat Hamas, how ISIS defeated the enlightened world. ” U.S. President Joe Biden agreed with him, and many media picked up a successful comparison used by Netanyahu.

Indeed, crimes against the civilian population of Israel, committed by Hamas in a few days, horrify no less than ISIS activity. But the statements that Hamas is ISIS look like an attempt to overshoot the enemy before the world community and justify the military operations of Israel in Gaza.

After surgery in Gaza, all the winners will receive the state of Israel (along with criticism for the murder of civilians). But Igil Netanyahu attributed the victory not to anyone specific, but to the whole “enlightened world”. Who was the world who bravely fought with ISIS and went to certain death in operations against militants who have nightmarked the Middle East for many years? And was there victory?

We talk about Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, protests and repression. We believe that now, when dozens of media have closed or ceased to cover the war, access to independent information is more important than ever.

Draw up a one -time or monthly donation.

The world is very concerned

On June 10, 2014, ISIS militants captured the city of Mosul in the north of Iraq, June 11 - Tikrite, a few days later the group was already critically close to the capital of Iraq Baghdad. On June 15, ISIS captured Tall-Afar.

ISIS (Islamic state of Iraq and Levant) is an Islamist organization that arose in Iraq in 2003. In 2014, the offensive began in the regions of the Northern and Western Iraq, as well as Northern and Eastern Syria and by the end of the year controlled about a hundred thousand square kilometers (for comparison, the territory of all Syria - 180 thousand square kilometers). In 2017, as a result of the offensive of the International Coalition, which included the Kurdish, Syrian and Iraqi forces of the region with support from the United States and other NATO countries, ISIS lost 90% of their territories.

During this period, in 2013-2014, ISIS organized a major offensive, during which they captured the territories of the eastern, northern, southern and even central Syria. ISIS was previously invisible by pace occupied the largest cities in the region , took control of strategic objects, seized weapons and military equipment. The world at this time expressed concern and predicted the inevitable fall of Syria and Iraq.

It seemed that nothing could stop ISIS. They had the best and most motivated infantry, recruited foreign experts, support from Turkey and a whole arsenal of weapons, which was surrendered by the frightened armies.

In October 2014, ISIS was attacked by Kobani-a city on the Syrian-Turkish border, in which the Kurds mainly live. The President of Turkey said : "Kobani will fall." The Turkish army, instead of attacking ISIS, began to shoot at the refugees who tried to cross the border on foot. It was then that the unforeseen happened. In Turkey, mass protests began, and thousands of caring citizens, mainly the Kurds, moved to the border with Syria. The protesters managed to break through the cordon of the Turkish Army and set the way in Koban to fight ISIS.

"We had no hope for anyone except our partisans"

Sardaru, Kurda from Amed (Diyarbakyr) The city in the northeast of Turkey. Amed is the Kurdish name of the city, and Diyarbakyr is an official Turkish name. , it was only twenty years old when he and the group of his friends ran across the border with Syria to join the detachments of folk self -defense (YPG) Folk self -defense units - Kurdish detachments created at the beginning of the revolution and the Civil War in Syria in 2011, subsequently took part in the fight against ISIS. YPG - abbreviation from the Kurdish name of the organization, Yekîneyape Parastina Gel. . “I said goodbye to my mother, girl. Just got on the bus and drove to the border. I thought death was waiting for me there. But I went anyway, ”recalls Sardar.

In Koban, Sardar unexpectedly met many of his friends and even a distant relative. They arrived in Koban even before protests in Turkey: “At first it was scary. I then spoke cursedly: I grew up in Turkey, and my parents were afraid to teach me Kurdish. But it was good that all other fighters also spoke Turkish: they, like me, came from Turkey and Turkish Kurdistan. ”

Kurds are a people historically living in the mountainous areas in the neighboring East. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the territory of Kurdistan was divided between Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey. On the territory of all these countries, the struggle for the autonomy of the Kurds has unfolded during the 20th century.

In Iraq, the Kurds managed to achieve official autonomy as part of the country. The most active struggle for Kurdish self -government took place in Turkey, where it still goes. In Syria, Kurdish detachments participated in the liberation of the country from ISIS, after which they created an autonomous administration of Northern and Eastern Syria, which controls the region. We talk more about the long -term struggle of the Kurds for freedom in our video .

Sardar recalls the battles for Koban as the most difficult. “Of all with whom we were in Koban, I have two friends left. Everyone else died, ”he recalls. Sardar, like other fighters, had old Kalashnikov assault rifles and four days of military training before they were sent to the first operation against ISIS militants. There was simply no time and resources for more prolonged training in military affairs. “My group was trained by the partisan RPK The Kurdistan Workers Party - an organization that has been conducting an armed struggle with Turkey against the oppression of the Kurdish people since 1978. Recognized as a terrorist organization in Turkey, the USA and the EU. . She moved to Koban a little earlier, and she had combat experience in the mountains of Turkish Kurdistan. A week after the end of the training, she died in a position, where in addition to her there was another PPC partisans. They kept their position alone for several days and managed to destroy the tank, ”says Sardar.

October 5, 2014 captain of women's self -defense units (YPJ) Women's self -defense units are Kurdish female detachments created in Syria to fight ISIS. YPJ is an abbreviation from the Kurdish name of the organization, Yekîneyape Parastina Jin. Arina Mirkan made a self -break on the strategic hill of Mishtenur, eliminating several ISIS militants . YPG detachments, inspired by the action of Arin Mirkan, began to prepare a counterattack. According to Sardar, in those days in Koban they had no air support, and it was impossible to transfer the fighters from the Arab tribes in the Jazir region: ISIS was everywhere.

On October 15, the American Air Force inflicted several air strikes on ISIS positions in Koban when coordinating with the Kurds. On October 20, 24 tons of military and humanitarian cargo from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan were delivered to the city The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is the second most influential party in Iraqi Kurdistan. . Before that, according to Sardar’s stories, the daily diet looked like this: Lavash for breakfast, lunch and dinner, tea and cigarettes: “We were exhausted, stinking terribly without a shower, I wanted to eat. We did not have anything, there was not even binoculars, not to mention binoculars of night vision. But we did not give up. We freed the hill behind the hill. House behind the house. These were the worst days in my life. ”

After 9 years, each hill in the area of ​​the city of Kobani is strewn with bullets. In some areas, it is still impossible to walk, because there is a high risk that a shell or mine will explode.

Sardar passed almost all the fronts of the battle with ISIS in Syria. To the words that ISIS won the world, he smiles: “We fought for people, we had no hope of anyone except us and our partisans. Only then did the world pay attention to us. ”

The Kurdistan working party is recognized as a terrorist organization in most Western countries. “Suspicion in connection with the RPK terrorist organization” is the most common reason for the arrests of journalists, human rights activists and activists in Turkey. However, it was RPK that played a key role in the fight against ISIS. While the group has absorbed entire regions of Syria and Iraq in a matter of weeks, RPK created units, transferred its forces from the Kurdistan mountains. Tempered by battles in the mountains against the Turkish army, RPK fighters stood at the origins of the people's self -defense units (YPG) and Syrian democratic forces (SDF), who repel ISIS in Syria. Cooperation with the RPC is still the main justification for Turkey for the occupation, bombing and shelling of the North of Syria.

Many residents of the region joined the SDF and YPG units. The RPK forces went to South Kurdistan (North Iraq), where they are now repelled by Turkey’s attacks in Iraq, but it was they who helped to form serious combat power. RPK was the basis for strategic planning of war with ISIS.

Fought with ISIS not only in Syria

Simultaneously with the occupation of territories in Syria in 2014, ISIS began to capture cities in Iraq. The same fate was waiting for the Yezid city of Shengal (Shinjar), located in the north-west of the country. This city was captured during the offensive by ISIS in early August 2014.

Yezidis begged the local Peshmerg defense forces Peshmerga - the Armed Forces of Iraqi Kurdistan. , DPK The Democratic Party of Kurdistan is the largest party of Iraqi Kurdistan. And the worried world to protect them or at least arm the population. Peshmerga retreated almost without a single serious battle. The unarmed Yezidis were left alone with ISIS.

Yezidis is an ethno -confessional group that some researchers reckon to the Kurds. Most of the Yezidis live in the north of Iraq. Ezidism is a religion combining elements of Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Zoroastrianism.

Having captured Shengal, ISIS arranged one of the most severe disasters of our time: Genocide Yezidov. According to the UN, ISIS militants killed 5 thousand Yezids, thousands of Yezids and Yezidok were tortured and violent, and more than 50 thousand became refugees. Now the Yezidov genocide is recognized in many countries of the concerned world. Of course, the recognition of the massacre in Schengal with genocide does not matter for thousands of women sold in slavery, killed children and those who remain hostage by ISIS.

RPK and YPG detachments entered fierce battles from ISIS in Schengal, which allowed to avoid even greater losses. They came to the aid of the Yezidam to help them escape-for this they opened the corridor to the northeast of Syria. Some people still live there in a horde of science in a tent camp.

Victory at any cost?

The liberation of Syria went from north to south under the leadership of the Syrian democratic forces (SDF). As they move south, more volunteers from cities with the Arab population began to join the SDF detachments. So, over time, SDF became mostly Arabic force.

The last large city in Syria under the control of ISIS was Deir ez-Zor. In it, on the side of the Syrian democratic forces, fighters from local tribes fought mainly.

The International Coalition against ISIS, led by the United States, pressed on SDF, demanding as soon as possible to “end ISIS” in Deir ez-Zor, although at the same time the Syrian democratic forces had to fight off the attack of Turkey in the north. All in order for Mir to be loudly announced to the victory over Monster ISIS. The coalition did not attach any importance to the fact that the war was in settlements, residential quarters. Therefore, air strikes and air support-this, of course, is good, but it was clear in the field of the SDF command that if you leave Deir Ez-Zor, the coalition still equalized it with the ground. ISIS used children like a live shield , and taking Deir Ez-Zor without a ground operation would be equivalent to the destruction of all residents of the city.

So, during the liberation of the Iraqi city of Mosul, in which the Iraqi army and the Shiite militia participated with the support of the international coalition, more than a thousand wounded and killed every week. SDF did not want such a fate for Syria. Not only because of the humanistic views and politicians of the autonomous administration, but also in order not to lose the support of the population.

Won the battle, but not the war

The last stronghold ISIS-the city of Bahoz in Deir Ez-Zor-was released in March 2019. But SDF almost immediately stated that the fight against ISIS was not completed. About a hundred thousand people from ISIS families with radical ideas and a thirst for revenge are still sitting in camps in northeastern Syria under the supervision of an autonomous administration The autonomous administration of North and Eastern Syria (also known as Rozhava) arose in the territory of Syrian Kurdistan in 2014. who does not know what to do with them. About the same number of ISIS militants are under the supervision of an autonomous administration, but already in prisons. You can’t organize an international court: the world has not recognized the autonomous administration, which means that the court decisions there will not be legally mean.

Israel will not have similar problems: this state is recognized as the world community, like its courts. But if Netanyahu so persistently compares the victory over Hamas with the victory over ISIS, then he promises the fate of his citizens to be unenviable, because so far it cannot be said that ISIS is finally defeated.

ISIS quite exists: the militants breathe freely in the territories of Syria occupied by Turkey, and even go to be treated to Turkey. In the territories controlled by Turkey, the United States regularly and again eliminate the leaders of ISIS, and they appear again. At the same time, the grouping arranges terrorist attacks in Syria, and recently tried to re-seize the largest city in Northeast Syria-Hasaka. There is an al-Sinaa prison with ISIS militants.

All this time, ISIS, uneven and unreasoned militants, restrained the SDF and YPG/YPJ, which Türkiye is constantly shelling and attacking, and killing, including civilian ones. The world does not condemn Turkish attacks.

Hamas is ISIS?

It is impossible to believe the promises of Netanyahu about the victory over Hamas. ISIS, unlike Hamas, did not support even the most bloodthirsty countries openly. Hamas leaders go with official visits to Russia, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon and others.

And the prize of spectator sympathies will always remain for Hamas. Although Igil returns a large number of foreign “volunteers”, it is somehow indecent to sympathize with him in society. Hamas, the laurels of decades of the liberation struggle of Palestine are reaping.

The worried world, which Netanyahu speaks of, tried to forget about bearded men who cut off their heads and arrange terrorist attacks in Europe as a terrible dream. And at the same time, turning this page of history with “uncomfortable” winners and assign a victory for yourself, which, I admit, is still very far away. But before the victory over Hamas - even further.