Bêrîtan Elyakut/JINHA

KOBANÊ – YPG/YPJ forces say that the operation they have launched against Daesh over the last week to liberate villages in Kobanê canton, which YPG/YPJ fighters are calling the "Revenge Operation," is meeting with success.

YPG Commander Cemil Kobanê described the campaign, launched on April 8, as an effort to be worthy of those who have given their lives for Kobanê.

YPG/YPJ forces recently liberated several strategic points—including a cement factory and two quarries—and have advanced as far as the border with Rakka, Daesh's "capital." YPG/YPJ forces seized a range of Daesh military supplies, important for a force fighting with few weapons, and liberated the village of Çelebi and the hamlets around it. Fighting was particularly heavy for five days, according to Cemil.

"This was the first time we set out for an operation in a crowded manner," said Cemil, noting that this phase marks a change in YPG/YPJ tactics as they take the initiative from Daesh. "At this point Daesh is running away."

The YPG/YPJ forces' most fabled victory was their seven-month defense of the city of Kobanê from unceasing Daesh attacks, which resulted in the liberation of the city center in January 2015. The forces are continuing to push Daesh out of the surrounding countryside that they have occupied, with coordination with Burkan al-Firat forces and others working in Syria against both Daesh and Assad.

Cemil said that "a new stage" in YPG/YPJ operations started around Newroz 2015 (the Kurdish national holiday and New Year), in March. The YPG/YPJ's recent liberation of Til Hemis and Til Berak from Daesh occupation are recent examples of YPG/YPJ resistance against the Daesh attempt to turn the multicultural and diverse regions of Rojava into a ruin. YPG/YPJ forces are also continuing to play a role in the resistance in the Êzidî city of Shengal, in Southern Kurdistan (in Iraq).

"The possibility of stopping the Daesh attacks has been something presented by the YPG/YPJ forces," said Cemil. He noted that no forces had been able to stop the forward march of the well-equipped and well-trained Daesh forces until local people in Rojava started taking up arms in self-defense—a resistance that eventually pushed the coalition forces into coordinating support for the forces.

"Our charge has a goal and it has an endpoint," said Cemil. "We're discussing the particular situation of Syria and because of this situation, humanity is heading towards a new way of life."

Cemil called this "not just the Kurds' war, but a war for all humanity."

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