#Kurdish

A cool head under fire was on display in a video released just yesterday, in which a female sniper of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ, a part of the largely Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces narrowly avoided the bullet of an ISIS sniper who had her in his sights. The dramatic video was first released by Turkish journalist Hemze Hamza through Twitter:

The mostly Kurdish composed Syrian Democratic Forces were recently pictured in combat against the so-called Islamic State with a modified Zastava M93 Black Arrow anti-material rifle. The M93 is chambered in either .50 BMG or the Russian 12.7x108mm cartridge. The M93s in use by not only the SDF but also elements of the Kurdish Peshmerga are most likely in 12.7x108mm due to the ample supply of Russian ammunition in the area of operations. Kurdish forces have been known to have been using M93s for some time now

The video embedded below is a documentary about the Kurdish PPK troops fighting the ISIS forces which had surrounded Mount Sinjar in late 2014. Before the siege, now know as the Sinjar Massacre, was broken, ISIS had managed to kill 5,000 Yazidi civilians. Its interesting to see what weapons the Kurdish militias are using. I even spotted a H&K G36 (pictured above).