Thursday, December 18, 2014

MintPress Gathers Around The Campfire With Female Guerrillas Fighting ISIS

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2 comments:

Tim Nolan said...

“A woman has every right to protect her rights and her people. This is an honor for us to fight for our country,” one guerrilla fighter says, explaining that while the concept of female fighters may seem “weird” to some, it’s “more than normal.”

December 18, 2014 at 4:13 PM
Tim Nolan said...

“A woman has every right to protect her rights and her people. This is an honor for us to fight for our country,” one guerrilla fighter says, explaining that while the concept of female fighters may seem “weird” to some, it’s “more than normal.”

Zatlaan bends down around a fledgling fire, blowing the kindling carefully, willing the damp pile of scrap wood to catch. Zatlaan — who asked that only her first name be used — is completely decked out in camouflage, spare a colorful traditional scarf wrapped tightly around her head.

The dozen women leaning into the heat of the fire, trying to warm their freezing fingers on a cold, dreary Syrian night while carefully balancing Kalashnikov assault rifles between their knees, all take orders from Zatlaan, their commander.

These women, also fully clad in camo, with extra ammunition hanging from green vests, are members of the Women’s Protection Unit (YPJ), an all-women’s Muslim-Kurdish guerrilla militia based in the far north of Syria (termed Rojava by the Kurdish population) known for its staunch fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

December 18, 2014 at 4:14 PM

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