Скачать или смотреть Peshmerga put fighting ahead of fasting

(16 Jun 2015) It's lunchtime for the Kurdish Pshmerga soldiers defending the frontline against the Islamic State group in Hassan Sham, northern Iraq.
The Peshmerga have been defending the borders of the northern Kurdish region for a year now after the Islamic State group took over large parts of the country.
Troops at at the base eat every meal together and during lunchtime, the soldiers gather to eat rice and soup prepared by the chef.
Ramadan is approaching but the scene is not expected to change even during the Muslim holy month of fasting.
Although most of the Peshmerga are practicing Muslims, like last year, they have been excused from fasting.
Hadi Halabji, the 52-year-old general of this battalion, says many Peshmerga soldiers are strictly religious, but most will not be fasting during Ramadan.
Bak Hama Ali, a 50-year-old Peshmerga Colonel from the same battalion, said he would try to fast.
"I'm one of the people who will fast as much as I can this Ramadan. But if I can't, I do believe I'm not committing a sin."
But the heat and the circumstances, will have a great impact on their wellbeing, he says.
The fatwa or the legal pronouncement on the Peshmerga being exempt from fasting during Ramadan, was called by the 'Union of Religious Scientists of Kurdistan', the organisation that issues statements about what is Halal or Haram in the northern Kurdish region.
The President of the Union of Islamic Scientists, Dr. Abdulla Waise said the fatwa was issued because the Peshmerga were defending the Kurdish territory.
Waise said the defending of the region by itself is already a holy war, so the Peshmerga don't have to fast.

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