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Yazidi Volunteers Prepare to Fight Back Against ISIS Militants

Kurdish militants in Syria have trained hundreds of Yazidi volunteers to fight Islamic State forces in Iraq.
Image: Iraqi volunteers from the Yazidi sect gather during a training camp at the Serimli military base, which is controlled by YPG, in Qamishli
Iraqi volunteers from the Yazidi sect gather during a training camp at the Serimli military base, which is controlled by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, on Aug. 16, 2014. The YPG is training Yazidi recruits to help them fight against the Islamic State militant group. YOUSSEF BOUDLAL / Reuters

Kurdish militants in Syria have trained hundreds of Yazidi volunteers to fight ISIS forces in Iraq, a member of the armed Kurdish YPG said on Sunday. Reuters photographer Youssef Boudlal spent Saturday at a training camp in northeastern Syria on the border with Iraqi Kurdistan, where he saw 55 Yazidis being trained to fight the Islamic State.

Dressed in green military fatigues and sweating in temperatures of over 100 degrees, young and old men were taught how to use assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. After several days' training they will be sent back to Mount Sinjar to fight, Anas Hani of the Kurdish YPG said. "In the past ten days, hundreds have graduated. And we are training more."

— Reuters