JINHA

KOBANÊ –Families forced to live for years under first Al-Nusra, then Daesh occupation in the town of Şêxler, on the banks of the Euphrates River in Kobanê canton, greeted the incoming YPG/YPJ fighters with joyful ululations and stories of their suffering under Daesh occupation.

Daesh gang members abandoned Şêxler town yesterday in the face of the YPG/YPJ's advancing operations to liberate the villages around Kobanê. As Daesh headed for their local headquarters in the town of Jarablus, they detonated the bridge over the Euphrates in their flight.

The Hebeş family had been loth to emerge from their house in Şêxler, where they had locked themselves throughout the course of the fighting, because Daesh had planted mines near the entrances to houses as they left the town. After the YPG/YPJ forces mine-cleaning teams moved through the towns, the family emerged from their home to embrace the YPG/YPJ fighters and speak about their experiences under Daesh.

The Hebeşes had suffered over the past year because they had been one of the families in the town who had not supported Daesh.The families who had supported Daesh had fled to Jarablus, they said, once the sounds of weapons made it clear to everyone a few days ago that the YPG/YPJ were closing in.

Family member ÊmoElo said Daesh had beaten them often. When she left the house, it was in long black garments and with extreme caution.

"We were always being threatened. We lived in fear of them coming and beheading us," she said.

70-year-old HemedHebeş said Daesh had beaten him repeatedly, in spite of his advanced age. Once, he and his son had been imprisoned for cutting his beard.

"When they saw the YPG/YPJ were coming, they took all the money they could find, as well as everything of value in the house," he said.

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