Islamic State (IS) group forces began attacking the Syrian Kurdish own of Kobani in September 2014. Due to the town’s prime location, near oil pipelines, supply routes and the Turkish border, it was a strategic target for IS to attack and for the Kurds and other allies to defend. At the early stages of the siege, many thought that the town would fall to IS control within days, and that such victory would just increase the momentum for the group in Syria and around the region.
By the second of October 2014, IS succeeded in capturing 350 Kurdish villages and towns in the vicinity of Kobani, generating a wave of some 300,000 Kurdish refugees, who fled across the border into Turkey's Şanlıurfa Province.
Since then, the demography of Kobani has changed and most of its residents have fled for many reasons to foreign countries. Nizar Barri is one of those people who fled Kobani ten years ago in fear of IS, he and his family lived in Turkey for almost ten years.
Nizar Barri arrived in Australia with his family as refugees at the beginning of this year. He tells us about the day they had to flee Kobani in fear of IS do what they did in Sijar, a day that will never be forgotten, a day that turned their lives upside-down. The hardship and the agony they went through during the ten years they were living in Turkey.
"We arrived in Australia at the beginning of this year, I am very grateful to Australia for accepting us and welcoming us here.
Fleeing Kobani and leaving everything behind ten years ago and not being able to return is heartbreaking for us as our home was completely destroyed," Mr Barri told SBS Kurdish.
In this Jan. 30, 2015, file photo, a Syrian Kurdish sniper looks at the rubble in the Syrian city of Kobani. Credit: AP/AAPIMAGE
Kobani at present time Credit: Zekeriya Mistefa
