MANILA, Philippines — Government forces who have been battling extremists in Marawi City since May 23 received support from a fellow warrior who has been battling the Islamic State half a world away.
Rebaz Hasan, a Peshmerga fighter in Iraqi Kurdistan, joined overseas Filipino workers there, handing a letter he wrote to visiting officials of the Philippine embassy in Baghdad.
“From the Kurdish Peshmerga to the Filipino Peshmerga, we express our solidarity with you in the fight against the Islamic State,” wrote Hasan, who comes from Sulaymaniyah in the eastern part of Iraqi Kurdistan, according to the embassy.
The gunmen who attempted to take over Marawi are led by Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, who has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and has reportedly been designated the terror movement’s “emir” in Southeast Asia.
Peshmerga, Kurdish for “those who confront death,” are the military forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq.
Embassy chargé d‘affaires Elmer G. Cato described the Peshmerga as “respected fighters who despite being outgunned and outnumbered succeeded in holding their line against the Islamic State in 2014, thus preventing the terrorist group from entering and taking control of Kurdistan.”
They helped spearhead the campaign to retake Mosul, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Iraq.
“We hope and pray for your victory against Daesh! Long live the Philippines! Long live Kurdistan,” the embassy quoted Hasan as saying when he accompanied his Filipina sister-in-law renew her passport during a consular outreach mission in Erbil over the weekend.
Kurdish writer and journalist Bestoon Othman Khalid also wrote a letter of support to the Filipino forces.
Also sending a letter of support to Filipino troops was Kurdish writer and journalist.
“As the Peshmerga succeeded in defeating the Islamic State from this part of the world, the barbaric terrorists appeared in Marawi,” Khalid said in the letter he emailed to the Embassy. “The friendly people and government of the Philippines are now fighting this brutal terrorist organization.”
“As an international citizen from the Kurdistan Region, I show solidarity with our Filipino brothers and sisters and wish them all the success in the fight against terrorism,” he said. “The Islamic State is a threat to the entire world. This is why we have to work hand in hand to fight this common enemy.”
Both Hasan and Khalid sent their letters in response to the appeal made by the embassy on behalf of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Department of Foreign Affairs for overseas Filipinos to send messages and letters of support to the troops fighting in Marawi.
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