- Give me that, it's too heavy.
- No it's OK. - Coming soon !
We will liberate Sinjar. - We are very proud to wage war,
to liberate our territory, our people. - How old are you ? - Me ? Don't ask this question. 20 years. Islamic State jihadists
yesterday captured Sinjar, a city of 310,000 inhabitants, about fifty kilometers away
from the Syrian border. “It is terror that now reigns in
the Kurdish villages of northern Iraq. The Islamic state continues
its abuses and massacres..." The UN denounces a human tragedy, 200,000 people had to flee
Sinjar in a few hours. “The jihadists of the Islamic State have
killed 90 villagers from the community yesterday Yazidi in this northern Kurdish area
of the country, a real massacre." “These Islamic State fighters have
then took away the women and children." The helicopter is the last link
which connects Sinjar to the outside world, a very fragile lifeline. For 7 days, the weather conditions have not
allowed more devices to land. 7 days without any
refueling. It is December 2014. Winter is approaching and
refugees lack everything. Sinjar is a mountain which is located
in northern Iraq, near Syria. The Kurdish fighters had
opened a corridor this summer, to allow the Yazidis to escape. At the end of September, Daesh took over this corridor, and the besieged Kurdish fighters,
retreated into the mountain. Nearly 1,500 families are
trapped on Sinjar, around villages and water points,
the tents of Yazidi refugees, spread throughout the mountain. This morning, the Yazidis are praying. They pray facing the sun. The Yazidis practice a religion
pre-Islamic Zoroastrian. They worship a god and several angels. For Daesh fighters,
they are devil worshippers. They must convert or die. The man who led the prayer
this morning is a Yazidi cleric. - The situation of the Yazidis,
see for yourself. There is nothing, we are missing
gas, we lack food. We can't go anywhere. The whole mountain is surrounded.
Life is hard here. There are only helicopters
that can happen here. Life is really difficult. You see
even, it’s misery. We rely on God. Every house in every village welcomes
the refugees who failed to escape, or who did not dare to run away, terrified by massacres which
took place before their eyes. - At the start of the genocide,
thousands of people died. People died of thirst, of hunger. They were chasing us.
They were killing us. Since then, many people have died.
We had to bury them on the way. - Even to animals, we don't do them
That, they killed us by the thousands. They were Muslims, some lived
among us, they were our neighbors. - They arrested everyone.
They killed men, old people. They were blowing up our mausoleums. - They kidnapped the women and children. - I beg you, America,
Great Britain, France, Germany, you need to help us because
that we are completely surrounded. The Islamic State has invaded all
the villages around Sinjar. The closest ones are
at the foot of the mountain, the enemy is at the end of the road. - Are you going to shoot the shit out of them? - No, son. It's theirs, not us. We're going to get Daesh out of here, like that,
Afterwards, you can return to school. - The school, am I going to kill the school? - But no. You go to school to learn how to
to read, write and know things. You will become doctors,
engineers or professors. And you can buy beautiful things.
It's better no ? - They say they are going to kill the school. - No, not school. School is fun, we'll take you back there
so that you learn lots of things. For 2 months, a new unit of
fighters were formed on the Sinjar, Liebscher, the Sinjar resistance unit. It is composed solely of Yazidis. This is Commander Delcher sitting
in the center, who orders them. - Daesh has installed fear in
the world by slaughtering human beings, children, beheading people. It's not by terrorizing
civilians that we are waging a war. This propaganda has no effect on us. We train and we
prepare like real soldiers. This is the first time in history
that the Yazidis take their destiny into their own hands. Hence the importance of
the creation of this unit. This unit evolves in order to
to prevent further genocides. The second thing is
that for the first time, Yazidi girls took up arms,
within a military force, to defend their position. For Sinjar, this is a first. We are ready to sacrifice ourselves,
as the Yazidi people were sacrificed. Commander Hilscher takes
also in charge of recruitment Yazidi women and men. If some are committed
spontaneously at the beginning of the siege, others still hesitate. It's up to him to convince them. - Our workforce is 150... 200 people. The YPG number 150, which
made up around 300 people. We cannot fight on all fronts. It is insufficient !
- Whoever rises up, we will help him. - He who wants to rise up,
we will help him. No matter who. - In the name of the people. - When you feel
ready, we will welcome you. Tomorrow with Ibrahim, we will go to the streets,
look for comrades in arms. We will ask who is ready to fight, we
take the name and number of the volunteers. I will be the one keeping the numbers.
When you tell me it's time, I will take care of it myself
call them in the name of the militia for them to come. - You came here, and you
want to leave at meal time? You don't want to share
your bread? This is inappropriate. - It's not me who says it, it's the
tradition. We didn't see it like that. At our house, when dinner is ready, if
you get up to leave, it’s not taken well. - That's a good argument.
- In that case, we'll stay. These young Yazidis are trained
to fight on the front lines. Men and women without distinction. Like Dersim, she is 22 years old. Before joining this unit, she worked as a hairdresser
in a beauty salon. - Like everyone else, we had to flee
and take refuge in the mountains. We are 5 sisters and 2 brothers
to have entered Liebscher. What ISIS has most
Fear is women. The world must know
the strength of the women's battalions, know that they face their enemies,
so that women will never again be submissive. Béraudon is 24 years old. He left the Iraqi army
to join this unit. He now leads a group
of Yazidi fighters. - We got some information,
a phone call from our men, who are near the front line.
We will go together to attack our enemies. It will be victory or victory. After 2 months of siege, Kurdish fighters are preparing
to launch a vast operation to break the encirclement of
Daesh and reopen the corridor. 2 columns of Kurdish fighters,
one from Syria, the other from Iraq, manage to penetrate the mountain. The objective to retake Sinjar City,
where Daesh forces retreated. A city almost deserted today and
which housed 310,000 people this summer. If the Kurds take the city, they
will control the road to Mosul, the stronghold of the Islamic State in Iraq. Among the reinforcements,
there are Iraqi Kurds, the peshmerga of the Kurds of Türkiye, the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party
and the Kurds of Syria, the YPG, people's protection units. Several hundred fighters
Islamic groups are entrenched in the city. A currently invisible enemy. To capture the city, the fighters
must control this hill. It is a strategic point in
the first days of combat, the Kurds will unite
their forces for the assault. They can benefit from modern weaponry
that the peshmerga have. - Take care of it, it's not free. - No worries, you stay here,
and we are going there. You bring the Milan and the 2 weapons back there.
We just have to wait for Daesh. - Shall we go left between the houses?
- Not between the houses, turn right. - We are in old houses,
we leave together. - Also take another sniper.
- One is enough. Kites are missiles
Franco-Germans. The international coalition
delivered this summer to the Kurds of Iraq. Other Kurdish militias
only have light weapons. - Do you see the red house?
These are the positions of Daesh. On the top of the hill,
It’s our comrades who are shooting. Between the two there are approximately 40-50 meters. For the Kurds,
this hill is crucial. Whoever controls it, will control the city. Their objective is to push Daesh towards
the West from this dominant position. - They arrived, there is smoke. - Does it burn a lot?
- Yes. - Is this the HQ of Daesh?
- Yes. - How did it go?
- The comrades attacked him. - Whether they go out or not
from HQ, blow it up. - That was a Daesh position right there! Soran took their car and there
had a lot of deaths on the Daesh side. 10 Daesh guys died
and others are injured. - 23 comrades participated in the operation.
It went well ! Shots from the top of the hill
come from Daesh positions. The Kurds respond immediately. - We took men prisoner
of Daesh. Like him, for example. He's a traitor. Because
of him and his collaboration, many Yazidi families, women and
children, were taken hostage. - We also released families
Yazidi from the hands of Daesh. Among them are children
of 12 years and even one of 20 days. Tonight, the Kurdish fighters
listen to their enemies of Daesh, on their radio frequencies. - May Allah bless you.
We are the group on the front line. - The snipers killed several.
Whoever kills one, let him warn us! - There is a peshmerga who fell
as a martyr, but apart from him, no one. - They say they are a group of
Khanassor. They know that we listen to them. - These are not groups
but just snipers. - They no longer have morale,
they are at the bottom of the hole. The next day, at the top of the mountain,
reinforcements continue to arrive. A unit of Syrian Kurds settles in
while waiting for orders to fight. A stranger is among them. He is american. - The city is smoking. It looks like they
well occupied by Daesh during the night. I think they didn't sleep and
I hope they don't sleep today. It's always good for morale
when your enemy suffers. - That's the bombings from the planes. - The trace of the planes.
- It's called "smoke". - We're going into battle.
- Yes, we're going to Sinjar. Jordan Madsen is 28 years old.
He's from Wisconsin. This former apprentice carpenter
spent 2 years in the US Army. He is the first foreign volunteer to have
joined the Kurdish fighters, the YPG. It's through Facebook
that Jordan signed up. - One of the things that made me decide for
come and fight here against Daesh, it's that the place where I find myself,
Sinjar was surrounded by Daesh. When they came to this
region, they killed many people, because they didn't follow
not the same religion. And then they sold
women as s**** slaves. Meanwhile, the powers
Westerners did nothing. They said, "It's a problem
Iraqi", but it is a human problem. They sacrificed thousands
lives for nothing. They could have been saved if the authorities
had done something earlier, and especially before Daesh
doesn't become so strong. This man saved all of our lives
6 a.m., we fought and he held the roof. If he had left his position and
the others entered our enclosure, we would all be dead. He was injured
Twice and he stayed in his place. He responded for 6 hours. The enemy sent 8 or 9 rockets at him,
shooting of m**** all night. I owe him my life. - Are you from America? - Did you come alone? - Did you come as a group of 2? - There is my comrade Kamal. We are 12 strangers. - There are twelve foreigners who have signed up. Welcome to you.
- Are there any women among you? - Yes, an Israeli. - An Israeli? You see,
there is a woman with them. Jordan is a staunch conservative. Fight alongside an organization
Marxist however poses no problem for him. The PKK is at war with Turkey
for thirty years, for Europe and the United States, this
organization is listed as terrorist. - It's one of the only groups that fights
for the rights of Kurds in the region. All they want,
it's more rights for the Kurds. They have a different ideology than Turkey,
it is not based on religion. They just want to have their
independence and if they don't have it, they want more rights for the Kurds, because they are considered
second-class citizens. So for me, no, it's not
not a terrorist organization. - Why do you want to go to Sinjar?
We're here, wait a bit. - I want to free Sinjar. When the bombings are
finished, I want to shoot them. I still want to go to Sinjar. Jordan gets impatient.
For 2 days now, his unit is blocked far from the front. Coalition bombing
international events will have lasted only 2 days, but Jordan's unit will not go down
finally not fight in Sinjar City. She is recalled to Syria
on another front. The Kurds managed to take
the strategic hill. They take a position in
the houses at the top. The front line is stabilizing. Progress will be made at home
per house, neighborhood by neighborhood. Slow progress
by Daesh snipers. - We're counting on you to get it. - Do you know where he is?
- Over there in the blue house. The mortar in the walls bursts
when the bullets pierce him, several projectiles
will cross the room. A man is hit. His name is Jamil.
It's his first day on the front. - Don't worry, she
came out, it's nothing. Jamil is Christian. - Press hard.
- Hold tight. - It's nothing, you'll get through it. It's better to lengthen it. - It's really not far. - Jamil, don't fall asleep, resist! Abel has to go get the ambulance. Prepare 2 comrades and
2 peshmergas to take him away! - I'll try to push
the sniper to come out into the open. A car takes over
to take him to an ambulance. The field hospital is
at the top of the mountain. Jamil's injury will be judged
too serious to be treated on site. Jamil will be evacuated the next day
to a Kurdish hospital in Syria. Among the Kurdish fighters, women
occupy the same place as men. Fighting side by side is not
yet not obvious, for men often from a society
with traditional and conservative values. Recruitment also includes
ideological training. - Because our course focuses
on the role of women, we will focus
about what she goes through, exploitation of women by men
to empty society of its meaning. This prevents us from evolving. Everything in society grows
the woman to be dependent on the man. The woman who knows her role and her place
will not accept this and will be able to free himself. There are radical feminist groups. It's what ? These are groups
which only favor women. The man must be crushed. This kind of movement does not
than divide society. As you see it, feminists are divided,
They don't all think the same. Within the PKK, our guideline,
is to allow women to evolve in a single
movement for emancipation. On the front, the women
also pay a heavy price. The fighter who had treated
Jamil was also injured, a few hours later. Despite their differences
religious or political, the Kurds stand up
in front of their common enemy. - Hundreds of girls
Yazidi are hostages. It's not hundreds, it's
thousands, but ISIS denies having them. They claim that they
are not at home. A man if it's a real one
patriot, if he is a real Yezidi, he must take up arms and
fight against Daesh and its barbarity. - I am a Muslim, they
also kill in the same way. They intend to invade
Kurdish land and to exterminate us, us and our language. - Now they attack each other
to our temples and our tombs. - I tell you, if ever the Sinjar
is saved, the rain will wash away our honor. After the rain, the Yazidis land
will be reborn and everything will change. Honor and pride are not
not just the woman, the girl, or someone's sister, the honor and pride of a
man, this is his land, his home. - Our armored vehicle will come from there,
and we meet at the crossroads. To cover the area, we will place the Milan
in a strategic location. As soon as one comes out, we shoot, hold position
until we are at the crossroads. If we succeed, everything
side of Sinjar will fall. After taking control
from the top of the hill, the fighters must seize
neighborhoods surrounding it. The day before, they managed to recover
light weapons to Daesh men. - He was a Daesh terrorist. - Daesh?
- Yes. As with every mission,
Berodan is one of the first on the ground. - Long live Kurdistan!
- Long live our Leader Apo! - Long live the resistance of Sinjar! A few hours earlier,
Daesh still held this position. - That's a Daesh corpse. - Cover them. Monitor
this side and that. - She's a civilian. - The corpse of a man
and her 10 year old son. When Kurdish forces attacked,
they were in the hands of Daesh. Who killed them before fleeing. Look at his feet, he was t****.
We'll protect the area and come back. These poor martyrs who were
killed by these sons of bitches, we will bring them back with us, so that we can
bury them in a dignified place. - 2 of you are blocking the road! - When the armored vehicle arrives, we will take
position on this roof and on that one. - We need one on this building. another there and in the street where Daesh passes. The neighborhood barely conquered, Kurdish fighters must consolidate
their positions at the entrance to the souk. - There are 5 guys from Daesh
positioned in the souk. They just arrived.
We can destroy them. - Death to Daesh! The battle of the souk is about to begin. - It's ours who are shooting. - This is your end of Daesh. They will not arrive
not to take the world, God willing! Just my voice scares them. Daesh! This is your end!
- Their car is leaving. - I'm going to tell you something, my friend. I saw a group of Daesh downstairs. They had 13 cars and
I warned my comrades. They look for the easy places
where there are no fighters. That they shot. They don't want to resist, right?
- Exactly. - If we close all access,
where will they go? - They don't know the guerrilla method. They are too afraid of the night. At night, they make rapid attacks,
and they return to their base. - We are waiting for our reinforcements. We do not fear death,
nor the snipers. The battle for Sinjar City will continue. After a month of fierce fighting, the
Kurds succeeded in pushing back Daesh. Dozens of men and women have
lost his life in the streets of Sinjar. Men and women,
ready for the ultimate sacrifice. For their land, for their freedom. Béraudon was 24 years old. He died on January 23, 2015. Hit by a shell.
