- Sultan Muslim and her family escaped ISIS’s siege of Kobane and fled to the border
- After reaching the border town of Suruc, Muslim gave birth to her seventh child and named him Muhammed Obama Muslim
- The family says they are grateful for coalition airstrikes and hope US assistance will allow them to return home safely
A pregnant Syrian Kurdish woman who fled ISIS and made it safely to Turkey named her newborn Obama out of gratitude for US-led airstrikes.
Sultan Muslim, her husband and their children were on the run for a month after fleeing the besieged border town of Kobane.
When they arrived at a refugee camp in Suruc, the family welcomed their newest addition and Muslim named him after the American president, because of the US’s air campaign against ISIS.
Newborn: Sultan Muslim, a mother of seven, named her four-day-old child Muhammed Obama Muslim to offer thanks for US assistance in fighting ISIS
‘I gave my son this name from my heart. I will never change this name,’ Muslim told Agence France-Presse, having given birth on Wednesday.
‘He dispatched planes, aid for us. Because of his help maybe we will get rid of this cruelty and get back to our homes,’ she added.
‘We named him Muhammed Obama Muslim,’ said Mahmut Beko, the boy’s father.
‘We want Obama to help us so that we can get back home. We are also human beings. We, the Kurds, attacked whom, fight against whom?’ he asked incredulously.
Brutal fighting between the Islamist extremist group ISIS and Syrian Kurdish militias known as the YPG has engulfed the border town of Kobane as ISIS militants attempt to rout YPG fighters.
A US-led coalition has attacked ISIS forces with airstrikes, which has weakened but not destroyed ISIS fighting power.
We were stranded at the border for days, without water or food,’ said Muslim. ‘We did not take any clothes to wear. We did not have any blankets. I was pregnant and had no chance of taking a bath.’
Many Kurds view American aid as crucial in keeping out the tide of ISIS extremists.
‘Like the Americans, the whole world should help the Kurds in Kobane. We have no true friends other than the Americans,’ said Turkish Kurd Selami Altay.
Along with many other Kurds in the region, Altay watched the fighting in Kobane from a hilltop overlooking Syria.
At the sight of new airstrikes, which have so far reportedly killed more than 500 ISIS fighters, the crowd erupted in cheers and chanted, ‘Obama, Obama.’