Long Shot

The Inside Story of the Snipers Who Broke ISIS

By: Azad Cudi

Narrated by: Ash Rizi

In 2002, at the age of 19, Azad, a young Kurdish man, was conscripted into Iran’s army and forced to fight against his own people. Refusing to go to war against his fellow Kurds, Azad deserted and smuggled himself to the United Kingdom, where he was granted asylum, became a citizen, and learned English.

But more than a decade later, having returned to the Middle East as a social worker in the wake of the Syrian civil war, Azad found that he would have to pick up a weapon once again. In September 2014, after 21 days of intensive training as a sniper, Azad became one of 17 volunteer marksmen deployed by the Kurdish army when ISIS besieged the city of Kobani in Rojava, the newly autonomous region of the Kurds.

In Long Shot, Azad tells the inside story of how the Kurdish forces fought nine months of bloody street battles against the Islamic State. Vastly outnumbered, the Kurds would have to kill the jihadis one by one, and Azad takes listeners on a harrowing journey behind rebel front lines to reveal the sniper unit’s essential role in fighting, and eventually defeating, ISIS. Weaving the brutal events of war with personal and political reflection, Azad meditates on the incalculable price of victory - the permanent effects of war on the body and mind; the devastating death of six of his closest comrades; the loss of hundreds of volunteers who died in battle. But as Azad explains, these were sacrifices that saved not only a city but a people and their land. Rojava was freed, and ISIS, which once threatened the world, never fully recovered.

At once wrenching and redemptive, Long Shot is a dramatic account of modern war that tells the story of how, against all odds, a few thousand men and women achieved the impossible and kept their dream of freedom alive.

©2019 Azad Cudi (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Great story telling.

Well executed blending of primary story with the background and author’s upbringing. The story has inspired me to find out more about the events described in the book and the Kurdish experience.

Action packed

Excellent narration, and wow tons of sniping. A look into the Kurds battle for independence against ISIS with no too much political posturing, and just enough technical sniper tradecraft. Loved it.

Outstanding Book

I truly enjoyed this book ,I highly recommend it . Amazing insight on the war against isis from the view of a sniper .

great book

Excellent book and gripping tale of resilience. A first hand account of the battle against ISIS.

I wanted more

I did enjoy the story and loved the performance. However, I was left wanting more. Characters were not really developed. When one was killed it was nothing that I really felt.