WEST KURDISTAN (SYRIA) – Kurdish ISIS kidnap survivor speaks out

Mewan Dolamari – BasNews, Erbil – 3.4.2014 – A young Syrian Kurd from Kobani city has spoken about his kidnapping and release by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) terrorist group.

According to a local Kurdish news website in Syria, the youth did not want to reveal his name. “I was with some of my friends,” he said, “ and we were on our way from Beirut, Lebanon, to Kobani in Syria. On our way, ISIS militants caught us and told us to get out of the car. “They knew that we are going to Kobani and sent us to the Amir’s office. After a few hours, the Amir appeared and talked to us in Turkish. A friend of mine knew how to speak Turkish and talked to him, but the Amir got angry and slapped him. We were then sent us to Jarablus, western Kobani, to have our throats cut.”

The youth and his friends were freed on Nawroz day and sent to Kobani by bus. Before they left they were told that ISIS had a “present” for the People’s Protection Units (YPG) – a car packed with explosives. “You will hear the news when you arrive in Kobani,” they said. At the end of his interview, the young man said that, when in captivity, ISIS men told them they would have their throats cut in front of people. They had also boasted that among the members of ISIS were Chechens, Saudis, Turks and Kurds from Syrian Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Region.In recent weeks, ISIS militants have started to threaten Kurdish people in some of the villages of Syrian Kurdistan.