War reporter Yuri Maldavsky is in Afrin, alongside foreign fighters who have come to help the Kurdish forces (YPG) to defend the Syrian city against attacks from the Turks and their allies. On the 20th of January, Erdogan launched ‘Operation Olive Branch’ – a siege on Afrin with the aim of ousting Kurdish forces from the region, which they have been controlling since 2012.
Maldavsky arrived in Afrin on the 7th of March, hidden in a convoy of Kurdish women. The YPG then allowed him to join its international unit composed of foreign fighters, all sympathetic to the Kurdish cause. While the international allies did nothing to stop Erdogan, the foreign fighters- among them a Briton, American, and an Italian- came to fight. While the bombs continue to fall on the city, the fighters are under orders to stay inside. This documentary follows their final few days in Afrin before its fall on the 18th of March.
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The global coalition against ISIS was never just about fighting terrorism. Hidden behind that rhetoric lie proxy wars and regional power-struggles.
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