In October last year, ISIS fighters swept into Kobani, a Syrian city on the border with Turkey. Months of U.S.-led airstrikes followed, while Kurdish fighters battled to retake the city.

Gokhan Sahin / Getty Images

When the city was finally liberated in late January, many residents who fled to Turkey returned home to inspect the damage for themselves.

Jack Shahine / Via Twitter: @jackshahine

Merrof Ekary had rescued his cat from the city's streets when it was only a few days old, he told BuzzFeed News through a translator, local freelance journalist Jack Shahine, who is also Ekary's neighbor.

Ekary named the cat Gewre, which is Kurdish for "the white one," and fed her milk and fish oil until she put on weight.

"They were the worst moments of our lives," Shahine said. "We never thought ISIS would attack the city. We just couldn't imagine it.

"When they did, we couldn't believe it. It was happening for real but we couldn't believe it."

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