Kurds in Syria have reacted furiously to videos showing Turkish-backed rebels abusing the body of a female Kurdish fighter killed in battle.<\/p>\n
Barin Kobani was part of all-female unit challenging a Turkish-led offensive in north-west Syria.<\/p>\n
Kurdish officials accused fighters allied with Turkey of “playing with her corpse” and mutilating it.<\/p>\n
Last month, Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels launched a campaign to capture the Kurdish-held Afrin region.<\/p>\n
Barin Kobani was killed during fighting earlier this week in the northern part of the region, reports say. She was in her mid-20s, and joined the Kurdish all-female unit known as the YPJ in 2015.<\/p>\n
The group is part of the YPG (People’s Protection Units), seen by Turkey as a terrorist group and an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in south-eastern Turkey for three decades.<\/p>\n
The US has provided the YPG and allied Arab fighters with weapons and air support to help them battle the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) in Syria.<\/p>\n
‘We will never abandon our homes’
\nTwo videos emerged earlier this week, and the woman was soon identified as Barin Kobani.<\/p>\n
The footage shows a group of rebels standing around the bloodied body of a woman lying on the ground. Parts of her torso appear to have been cut.<\/p>\n
“We hold the Turkish government responsible for this heinous act,” Kurdish-led authorities said. One unconfirmed report claimed she had been captured alive before being killed.<\/p>\n
Local official Aldar Khalil condemned the rebels’ “moral decadence”.<\/p>\n
Turkey has not publicly commented on the issue. The rebels involved in the videos have not been identified.<\/p>\n
Thousands of people have been displaced by the Turkish-led offensive, launched by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a bid to crush the YPG, which controls Afrin and more than 400km (250 miles) of Syria’s northern border.<\/p>\n
Some 10,000 Syrian rebels are taking part in the campaign.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kurds in Syria have reacted furiously to videos showing Turkish-backed rebels abusing the body of a female Kurdish fighter killed in battle. Barin Kobani was part of all-female unit challenging a Turkish-led offensive in north-west Syria. Kurdish officials accused fighters allied with Turkey of “playing with her corpse” and mutilating it. Last month, Turkish troops […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":397994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[16777,5950],"yoast_head":"\n