"A lot of our injured fighters cannot be treated here ... We will pay for [the treatment]. They haven’t even given us that visa. This is not fair." Loading A further 11,000 Kurdish soldiers were killed. Choking back tears as he talked about the losses his people’s military had suffered, Dr Omar made his plea for medical visas as part of a broader push for the international community to remain involved in northern Syria beyond the victory over IS. He said if, in the absence of the US and other coalition partners, the Kurds were attacked by their adversaries, Turkey and the Syrian regime from Damascus, a resulting war "would force five million people in this region to flee towards Europe". "The international community can’t just say ‘bye-bye’ after the Islamic State is defeated. If they say ‘bye-bye’, this area will become unstable and lawless and the Islamic State will come back," he said.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have contacted Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s office for comment on whether medical visas for Kurdish fighters are being considered by Australia. The Herald and the Age interviewed about a dozen Kurdish soldiers who’d been wounded fighting IS, mostly around Baghouz near the Iraq border, where the terrorist group made its final stand last month. Syrian Democratic Forces soldier Ahmad Atiya, 24. Credit:Kate Geraghty Ahmad Atiya, 24, was hit accidentally by his own side’s mortar fire in the town of Hajin, 30 kilometres northeast of Baghouz, just over four months ago. He lost both his legs. Comrades dragged him into a room where he lay alone for six hours without painkillers or treatment. "I was trying to reach my weapon to kill myself," he said. "If I’d been captured by ISIS, they would have tortured me."

Loading By the time he got to the major hospital at Hassaka for treatment, he needed 4.5 litres of blood - nearly an entire body’s worth. He is clearly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as well. "When I sleep, I dream I’m walking. I’ve got my legs back," he said. It is remarkable what some of them have survived. Shiyar Noushtiman was hit in the stomach by shrapnel from IS artillery fire which also partially detonated an ammunition pouch he was carrying. He described holding his intestines in his hands. "Everything inside was outside," he said.

He has a plastic hip now and an open wound on his back that will not heal. Shiyar Noushtiman has his wound dressed at a house in Hassaka where SDF soldiers are recuperating from their injuries. Credit:Kate Geraghty Sipan Ezzo, 20, was fighting just outside the former IS capital of Raqqa, in a village called Salhabia, when he took a rest to have breakfast and placed his heavy weapon on a pile of ceramic tiles. Retreating IS fighters had put a booby trap bomb, known as an improvised explosive device or IED, under the tiles. He was holding four grenades and had an ammunition belt slung over his shoulder. Together the consecutive blasts took both his legs and his right forearm.

He describes the contrast between the Kurds and the IS fighters, most of whom had come from outside Syria. The Islamic State fighters were "brainwashed", he said. They would use drugs such as Tramadol - an opiate that dulls pain and fear. The Kurds would find empty packets everywhere as they took IS territory. "We get energy from our martyrs and comrades," he said of the Kurds. "They keep us going all the time." US President Donald Trump has hinted at a full withdrawal of US forces from Syria but so far has not followed through. Sipan Abdulrahman Khadir (left) who lost the lower part of his left leg in Baghouz reapplies the bandage to his leg as Sipan Ezzo, 20, looks on. Ezzo lost both legs and his right hand and part of his arm. Credit:Kate Geraghty Mustafa Bali, the spokesman for the largely Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, said on Twitter at the weekend: "[The] US military hasn’t yet informed or co-ordinated any withdrawal of its troops with the SDF from north Syria, contrary to reports [in the media]. The situation on the ground remains the same [with] no pullout of US forces."

Militan Afrin Ciya, the commander of the military academy at al-Omar base near Baghouz, said his troops had faced many of the most hardcore IS fighters. "Those people who decided to fight until the end, they were willing to die," he said. "We were fighting very close to one another. The coalition in some cases were not able to strike their points because the distance between their fighters and us was so small. "ISIS was using civilians as human shields. We had to fight while keeping the women and children safe. That was the reason it took so long." Dr Omar said the international community needed to restart Syria peace talks in Geneva, with the Kurds included. They have previously been kept out thanks to a Turkish veto. "After liberating north east Syria, we now control more than 30 per cent of the country. That’s why we need our partners to put pressure on the United Nations ... We paid a high price ... We cannot solve the Syrian problem when the Kurds are left out."