Kurds Declare Mobilization in Northern Syria's Kobani

The self-proclaimed Kobani canton in northern Syria have ratified a law on self-defense and began mobilization of civilians, Idris Nassan, an official in the foreign affairs directorate of Kobani, said Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — He added that the first 160 civilians have been already conscripted. They will get a 45-day training in the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) camps. Conscripts will be used only for the protection of Kobani and not to fight Daesh, Nassan noted.

"[After the training] they will serve for nine months and then they stay with [People's Protection Units] YPG or go home," Nassan was quoted as saying by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) press service.

PUK noticed that people of Kobani were not happy with the conscription, with some of them saying that Iraqi Kurdistan's approach, where militia was both voluntary and paid, was preferable.

Kurdish militia in Syria backed by the international coalition is currently participating in an offensive against Daesh in the city of Manbij.