The Last Front: Baghuz ~ My narration of the events leading up to the fall.

Chapter Ten: The Last Battles

Chapter Ten: The Last Battles

End of February 2019- Allah is the Greatest

The ceasefire did not last long, and it was announced that evening during Maghrib that it was over. They resumed their attacks and caused chaos everywhere. That night we had to run from our trenches. A fire had started and spread fast due to the tents and weaponry in the area, and it was quickly moving toward us. This was a tactic used by the enemy. They would light fires in the night that would destroy and burn curtains, forcing people to gather closer and closer together.

When the fire started near us, they were also air-striking us, and this caused new fires to form. I remember entering the neighbour’s trench because it was the deepest but also the tightest.

I got a claustrophobic panic attack. I tried to calm myself down for five to ten minutes. But it didn’t work. I had to pop my head out of the trench to get some fresh air. The bullets were flying over my head. I had the choice of that or dying of suffocation in a 1×1m trench with around seven to eight people. When midnight hit, it was quieter, but then the Kurds climbed on the cliff and put their banners— the yellow YPG banner and the Kurdish national flag. They then blasted music, were laughing, and screaming stuff at us. The brothers, in response, started doing the Takbiraat. In the few kilometers of ground, you can hear music blasting on one end and Takbiraat read on our end. Random brothers started the Takbir, and eventually, all the men joined. I can still hear the echoes of those words in my ears!

الله اكبر الله اكبر الله اكبر
لا اله الا الله
الحمد لله وحده نصر عبده واعز جنده وحزم الاحزاب وحده

I knew at that point the fight against the State was indeed a fight against religion, a battle against Islam. There was no other reason why America would create a coalition of many countries and use these useless Kurds who had no purpose in Dunya or Akhirah. I knew that they wished to demolish the light of Allah, and here I say, after almost four years since Baghuz, that Allah will never allow that to happen. Rather His light will spread even if the polytheists hate it!

The following day as we woke up, we checked who had survived. Then we returned to our tents, as no fire had occurred near us. The next day was passed in fear and preparation for another fire, but at the same time, we had to be careful from the sniper bullets, which were being shot randomly every couple minutes. Many were dying; there was death after death.

The Following Night
We were told each night to remain vigilant and sleep with our equipment and emergency bags, but tonight we were told to sleep with our boots. I did not sleep out of fear and did not listen and stayed without my shoes on, thinking I would wear them when it’s time.

Around two hours after Isha, a big fire started near us, coming toward our end. People around us started shouting and told us to get out. Everyone ran out, but I couldn’t find my shoes! I did not want to run without them and step on some body part or on something that could cut my foot, so it took at least 40 seconds, but I found them and was the last to run out, and we proceeded towards the river.

Flashing Lights
We found someone we knew, and they told us to stop running  and to come inside their tent because there was an AC-130 plane approaching. As we entered the trench, we were exposed to the open sky, and the aircraft descended closer and closer above us. It would make a helicopter, shooting, and siren sound simultaneously. It was the scariest sound I have ever heard in my life. I heard something similar in Keshma, but then we had a roof over our heads, so it didn’t sound the same. I had also heard it when we first came to the trenches, but there was a layer of tent cloth between us and the plane, so we couldn’t see it. But now, it was right there in front of our eyes, and there was nowhere to hide.

In this instant, I thought I would die, that it would shoot us at any moment.

The plane was known to shoot thicker bullets than the AK47 bullets. Before it fired its shots, a white light would appear and release the bullets 10 seconds later. We tried to cover ourselves the best we could and lay down in rows: women, children, and even men .

It was a sorrowful state we had reached. Our faces were full of fear, and our eyes were seeing death. The plane flashed the white light, and I closed my eyes. But no shooting occurred, then again three minutes later, the same thing happened, and yet no bullets. Then for the third time, the white light flashed and could be seen on the horizon, then the plane just left. It shot an airstrike somewhere further. Not in the last square in front of the river, where we were. We fell asleep in such a state. We were filled with fear after barely escaping our deaths.

(Hayaa alaa al Jeehad)
The following day I woke up and checked on everyone. People we knew had been burnt alive that night; others were shot.

I had to pick up a few liters of water for the day; as I walked towards the river, I was exposed to the injured people. They were getting treatment there. There were so many people; every other tent had at least three to five injured bodies. They were distributing sugar to the injured. I happened to be in the crowd where they suddenly started distributing, people were fighting to get some, and I got some without even asking for it. I walked away, looking for someone injured or a child to give it to.

I still hadn’t gotten over the shock of the previous night, and it was by far the most horrifying night I had experienced. I remember our food that day was powdered milk; we drank a cup each.

When I returned to where we had slept, I heard bullets flying in the air. Someone had provoked the enemy from the cliff. So then they decided to come forth. They came out from the cliff and started shooting at a field where families lived. I saw women carrying newborn babies and toddlers, along with some men leaving their trenches to come to stay on our end.

As the chaos flowed through the air, I saw a man walking around the tents shouting, “Get up for Jeehad! Get up and defend your Ummah (Hayaa alaa al Jeehad).” I remember his march of honour between the overflow of tents and belongings on the surface as he walked with pride. Just by looking at him, the men leave their children, their women, their work, and their shovels, and they follow the man as they walk behind him. He then started walking towards the cliff, and I lost sight of him.

I did not know why the enemy attacked us on foot as if the airstrikes and sniper bullets weren’t already doing the job. They knew we had lost, and they could finish us off in so many ways, but they decided to enter. Maybe they wanted to die at the hands of the brothers because they were indeed coming to their deaths.

The fighting occurred between the brothers and the SDF forces until they retreated behind the cliff that they were shielding themselves with.