Konflikten i Syrien

There’s a Twitter rumour going around that this young woman is named ”Rehana” and single-handedly killed 100 Islamic State (IS) fighters in Kobani. This is very unlikely, since she’s not even a member of YPJ, but an auxiliary ”home guard” unit. I met her during the ceremony when the unit was set up on 22 August. The purpose of such units is primarily to relieve YPG/YPJ (”the army”) and Asayish (”the police) of duties inside Kobani town, e.g. operating checkpoints. Only in the last instance would these minimally trained volunteers be sent to the first line of fighting. I doubt that even the most skilled YPG/YPJ sniper in Kobani has killed 100 enemies, even since the start of the war, and it's highly improbable (though of course not impossible) that someone who has not even been to YPG/YPJ boot camp would manage that in a few weeks.

Others have posted pictures of an IS fighter holding a severed head, claimed to belong to the same young woman. However, if you just take a closer look at that picture you’ll see that her facial features are completely different. Also, she didn’t have nearly as long hair, or the same hair colour.

The young woman in the picture (I didn't catch her name) told me that she used to study Law in Aleppo. She volunteered to defend Kobani against the Islamic State and risk her life. It’s an affront to her that some people think that’s not enough, but that more fantastic details have to be invented, and it also devalues the very many completely true and even more fantastic stories coming out of Kobani. Unfortunately, there’s not an iconic picture for every fantastic story, and vice versa.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region— The Syrian government welcomed on Tuesday the deployment of Peshmerga forces to the besieged town of Kobane, describing it as “a patriotic move.”

“IS is the enemy of humanity and everyone else and we see sending the Peshmerga to Kobane positive,” Syrian National Reconciliation Minister, Ali Haidar told Rudaw. “The Kurds need to support their brethren.”

Haidar said that Damascus welcomes “any act that will lead to the destruction of the Islamic State.”

Another source -- an official with the Ministry of Peshmerga, effectively the defense ministry for the semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq -- said 161 Peshmerga fighters were making the trip.
The troops have weapons "that will be of good help to our brothers in Kobani," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.