PESHMERGA AND YPG NEWS

OBANÎ – As part of the ongoing operation in the rural areas of Kobanî, 149 villages have been liberated in the past 19 days.

Following the liberation of the Kobanî town centre from ISIS gangs on 26 January, YPG/YPJ fighters launched an extensive operation to cleanse the villages of ISIS groups one day later. As part of the ongoing operation in the rural areas of Kobanî, 149 villages have been liberated in the past 19 days. The names of the villages completely cleansed of ISIS gangs on three fronts of Kobanî are as follows;

West Kobanî

Korê, Bîre Remê, Xanê, Qênter, Qiran, Kûlan, Qereqo, Sêlim, Xurxurê, Kor Elî, Dîgmetaş, Aşmê, Êlem, Bubanê, Sûsan, Doliya Mezin, Doliya Sofiyan, Doliya Gamirê, Şikeft, Dolê, Siftek, Çolbeg, Çixur, Zorava, Mezra Ebruş, Minaz and Minazê, Mana Şêxa, Elbodlan, Nihmanek, Gabelek, Pêndira Mezin, Pendira Biçuk, Pendira Eniz, Zekeriya, Bestik, Nayif and Derbenob.

East Kobanî

Helinc, Minîsê Kor, Mîlê, Bîr Omerê, Xanik, Solan, Lêhênê, Koran, Ûçkardeş, Xerbîsan, Qeremox, Qeremezire, Xirab Kort, Walaqî, Boztepe, Ên Bet, Xerîb, Cum Elî, Kortik, Girbenav, Îto, Til Sofî, Tilik, Hewlaqî, Qişlê, Mixarac, Til Xezal, Mezra Sofî, Bîrereş, Pino, Taşloga rojava û rojhilat, Qebecûk, Qeramûs, Miktela Kevin, Dîyaba, Gundê Osê, Kîkan, Mercsmêlê, Elîşar, Mezra Dawid, Cêlik, Şêran, Daulê, Têrî, Til Hecib, Qaramezrê, Şêx Çoban, korpîngar, Şeran, Kazikan, Kûsik, Kopeksantêm, Begîxerbal, Kulîlkan, Dibîrka Kêtikan û Dibîrka Şêxan, Cêşan, Tehtika Helebiliyan and Çapan.

South Kobanî

Termik, Gul Mit, Feyaz, Zinarê Kol, Xerab Xel, Qilomerg, Îtwêran, Qela Zîrik, Qomçî, Şêx Botan, Cimo, Ziravê, Kaşê Berkelê, Donxiz Biçûk and Mezin, Yaramez, Boxaz, Girdê, Rûvî, Tevşo, Xizên, Sittî, Bêşaltî, Mewcik, Bîrerep, Êdiq, Tuxtê, Remo, Mezra Dewlê, Mixarac, Mezra Besrawê, Încirlîk, Bilik, Qoçliyan jêrîn, Qoçlê, Şêx Sehin, Xelîlcîk, Cilik, Qecer, Seyda, Zinarê, Pîrek.

NEWS CENTER - YPG Media Center has announced balance sheet of war in Kobanî for the month of January. Accordingly, 608 ISIS members were killed and 36 fighters of YPG and YPJ lost their lives in the fight in Kobanî last month.

The Press Centre stated that Defense Units carried out 44 operations and actions, and that clashes broke out 29 times while the results of 15 of them couldn’t be ascertained. ISIS gangs carried out four suicide attacks with bomb-laden vehicles, the statement said.

According to the balance sheet, 608 members of “the enemy” were killed and bodies of 201 were seized by YPG who also took 3 ISIS gangs captive. During the month of January, 22 vehicles and 3 tanks of the gangs were destroyed.

The Press Centre added that 36 fighters of YPG/YPJ lost their lives in the fight last month.

Fighter jets based in Jordan belonging to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have struck oil refineries under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) armed group, the UAE's state news agency has claimed.

F-16s based in Jordan "targeted oil refineries controled by the Daesh (ISIL) organisation, with the aim of drying up its sources of finance," WAM said on Monday, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

The agency reported that the strike was a "fresh attack" and that similar strikes had occured on February 10 and February 12, but did not specify the location of the targets.

WAM said on Monday that the F-16 fighter jets had returned safely to Jordan where they were deployed earlier this month under orders from Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan.

Meanwhile, Jordan's information minister said on Monday that Bahrain had also deployed fighter jets to Jordan to support its fight against the armed group.

"This move highlights the brotherly ties between Jordan and Bahrain, and comes in line with our belief in the importance of the war against terrorism," Information Minister Mohammad al-Momani told the AFP news agency.

"Jordan appreciates the support provided by Bahrain, as we also appreciate UAE support too."

Snuny, Iraq - By a deserted road near the base of Mount Sinjar, Jamal Murd searched through the pockets of the remains of the dead for traces of his father.

As Murd, a 35-year-old member of the minority Yazidi religion from the town of Khanasoor, searched through a makeshift dirt grave - the remains of a massacre believed to have been committed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters as they attacked Yazidi towns around Sinjar - he uncovered his uncle's diabetes medication. He recognised his uncle's clothes. And then he put his hand into the pocket of a dead man.

"I found a key in his pocket," Murd told Al Jazeera. "I took [the key] to my house in Khanasoor. It worked in the front door. I tried the kitchen door and that worked too."

That is when Murd realised the dead man was his father, who disappeared months earlier while fleeing from ISIL. His body was found just last week, part of a pit of 36 uncovered bodies discovered by a roaming shepherd behind an abandoned chicken factory after Iraqi Kurdish forces regained control of the route to the mountain.

NEWS CENTER – TEV-DEM (Democratic Society Movement) organizes pre-elections at the institutions under TEV-DEM to make sure that the municipality election takes place in a democratic way and with maximum participation.

According to the election system of Rojava Democratic Self-Administration, election will be held on March 13 in Cizîre Canton and the parties and organizations cannot attend it but may support the candidates.

To organize the election, election committees were formed in every city of Cizîre Canton and they are going to distribute the ID cards to the voters, said Şahoz Hesen, a TEV-DEM member, in an interview with ANHA.

Baghdad - Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi permanently lifted Baghdad's night curfew after a decade of US-imposed restrictions that kept residents indoors between midnight and 5am. Thousands of Iraqis subsequently poured into the streets, testing their newfound freedom to be outdoors overnight.

The curfew came into effect during the Iraq War, after US-led coalition forces stationed in Baghdad became targets for night-time attackers, who took advantage of the later hours "to avoid targeting innocent people", according to a statement issued at the time. During the first few years of the curfew, dozens of Iraqis risked being arrested or killed by US forces when they broke the curfew for emergency situations, such as going to the hospital or searching for a missing relative.

Years later, as Iraqi forces gradually took charge of the country's security, the night curfew remained. After the last US troops left in 2011, Iraqi security forces eased the curfew for emergency situations, but it remained tight and subject to the personal judgements of security forces.

Al Jazeera spoke with Baghdad residents about how they have responded to the curfew's lifting.

US military leaders have been questioning whether Iraq is ready to launch a sweeping counter-offensive against ISIL.

On the Iraqi side, that question seems to have been answered with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, announcing in Germany that he wanted to share "the good news that Mosul would be liberated" soon.

Although no broad offensive would be complete without recapturing the capital of ISIL's self-declared state, in military matters, Iraq and the US have often operated on different time lines.

US air strikes have made it possible for Iraqi security forces working with the Kurds and Shia fighters to take back key pieces of infrastructure and significant territory, including most of Diyala province and the Sinjar area of northern Iraq.

However, most of al-Anbar, bordering both Syria and Jordan, is still held by ISIL and populated by Sunni tribes that have not been persuaded that it is in their interests to fight with the Iraqi government.

As US President Barrack Obama's envoy and co-ordinator in the fight against ISIL

Kurdish Peshmerga forces have launched a major military operation in northwestern Iraq, following recent attempts to push across a frontline near the ISIL stronghold of Tal Afar.

Hundreds of Peshmerga troops have been deployed along frontlines pushing south from the Mosul Dam on Wednesday, after clearing almost 4km of territory.

With the help of the US-led coalition, the Peshmerga have been trying to take strategic territory that will cut vital supply lines from the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant group's strongholds in Syria into Iraq.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from near the Mosul Dam, said Peshmerga commanders were confident of the operation, even though they knew it may take some time.

"The military operation is being carried out jointly with the US coalition. Since the early hours of the morning we have seen coalition planes dropping bombs targeting ISIL positions," she said.

"Earlier in morning there was no resistance from ISIL, but now ISIL is putting up a fight. They are fighting back and putting up fierce resistance while launching mortars at Peshmerga positions."

Peshmerga commanders on the ground told Al Jazeera that their aim is to take strategic territory that will cut supply lines vital for ISIL

Tripoli, Libya - Just off of Rashid Street in Tripoli's downtown, with its grimy cluster of shops selling a black market mix of cheap Turkish-made guns and bullets, Jamal, a mobile phone store owner, laments the deterioration of Libya's security.

"Everyone has a gun now," he says, after jokingly asking one customer if he belonged to Daesh, the Arabic name for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which claimed responsibility

February 17 marks the fourth year since the official start of the Libyan revolution, which ended in the brutal overthrow of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi's regime in October 2011. The following year, euphoria swept through Libya as revolutionary fighters, activists, government workers, businesspeople, students and their families celebrated being free of a controlling state apparatus that had spanned four decades. Exiled Libyans jubilantly returned home and the world's media flew in to witness Libya's first democratic national elections.