<\/b>Lo\u2019ay Yassin<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
8\/25\/2016<\/b><\/p>\n
Since the beginning of the uprising in March of 2011, the war has been imposing its deadly beaton life in Syria, especially on women, who are the primary victims of any conflict despite being the glue that holds families and the fabric of society together. A multitude of fighter groups were formed from female volunteers seeking to prove their military worth; women who broke the traditional image for a woman\u2019s role in war previously limited to medicine, cooking, and mourning. <\/span><\/p>\n Though the military academy for women was founded in 1982 in Syria, something different happened after the uprising. Its first signs were seen in a YouTube video published on January 7th, 2013 featuring an all-female military march titled \u201cAssad\u2019s Lionesses – National defense\u201d. Afterwards, on January 23rd, 2013, an Arabic satellite TV channel aired a report on female fighters getting trained in weapons somewhere in Homs. They were later drafted to search women and vehicles at checkpoints. <\/span><\/p>\n Beyond formal government formations, some women fighters formed factions such as \u201cDaughters of the National Guard\u201d. One of them said on TV that she killed 11 opposition fighters using her sniper rifle in one day on the outskirts of Darayya in Damascus, which earned her a medal from her unit commander. There is also the \u201cPeople\u2019s Front for the Liberation of Sanjak of Alexandretta – Syrian Resistance) led by Mehraj Oral, a.k.a \u201cAli Kayali\u201d. Kasab native Sivan (nicknamed Abu Ali) was with this group. In addition there was the \u201cSnipers\u201d division and Al-Maghaweer female battalion where volunteer women would sign a ten year contract to volunteer and enlist. They listed \u201cavenging the death of their loved ones in the Syrian Arab Army\u201d as their reason for joining. They did not, however, disclose their monthly salaries. <\/span><\/p>\n Most notable about these factions is their use of RPGs, sniper guns, and tanks unlike other female factions such as the People\u2019s Front for the Liberation of Sanjak of Alexandretta and Civil Defense Lionesses which only use AK-47s. <\/span><\/p>\n In a TV interview with an Arabic satellite channel, Du\u2019a (Om Saeed) in Damascus countryside said that she trains women on weapons and self defense so they could carry their weight in battles or raids. <\/span><\/p>\n The first armed all-female opposition battalion -Om Al-Mo\u2019mineen Aisha- was established on April 25th, 2012. They stated their goal in the official announcement \u00a0video published on YouTube on April 24th as defending their honors. However, it has been previously reported that women\u2019s participation in combat had begun before that time in Dara\u2019a. <\/span><\/p>\n In another video on YouTube dated June 18th, 2012, \u201cBanat Al-Waleed\u201d battalion was announced. Its mission was to train \u201cfree\u201d women on weapons, first aid, documenting and exposing regime crimes, and self defense. The speaker said that the group had no affiliation with any entity. <\/span><\/p>\n Add to that the formation of Al-Nabek revolution council\u2019s \u201cSumaya Bint Khayat\u201d battalion on January 2nd, 2013, whose aim was to \u00a0perform jihad in the name of God. In Salah-Eddin district in Aleppo, \u201cOur Mother Aisha\u201d \u00a0announced a merger with \u201cAl-Sadeq Al-Ameen\u201d battalion in a YouTube video. Our Mother Aisha later broke off and became independent on June 23rd, 2013. Its commander Om Omar -who holds a master\u2019s degree in English literature- said the battalion\u2019s female fighters were experts in the use of sniper rifles and locally manufactured mortar, and their goal was to support men in the fight against the Assad regime. In most TV interviews, she makes mention of the fact that most fighters in her battalion are educated, intellectual women. Hers appears to be the best trained battalion among women\u2019s fighting groups. It is also said that they have received first aid training. <\/span><\/p>\n Like the regime, the opposition benefited from the deployment of women at checkpoints as seen in Aleppo by \u201cAl-Ikhlas\u201d battalion, whose commander said on TV that the women search people at checkpoints and arrest regime thugs and other wanted women. Nevertheless, many women enlist and fight with men\u2019s battalions like Om Jaafar, a sniper in Aleppo\u2019s Sawt Al-Haqq battalion.<\/span><\/p>\n ISIS experimented with female battalions. They established Al-Khansaa\u2019 battalion and invited women to join it to patrol neighborhoods, check IDs, and arrest, discipline, ,and whip women in Raqqa that lack a burqa in public. Reports indicate that most of its women were foreigners such as \u201cOm Rayan\u201d from Tunisia and \u201cOm Hamza\u201d the prison guard. A TV report mentioned that salaries for such female recruits were no less than 200 USD\/month.<\/span><\/p>\n On the other hand, Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham (previously known as Al-Nusra Front) lacks female participation as it did not follow ISIS\u2019s strategy in forming a female battalion to discipline women, but rather stuck with men to discipline all people. However, a YouTube video published on April 7th, 2015 shows women training in the \u201cWomen for Victory and Empowerment\u201d camp in Aleppo. In that video, the speaker gave the impression that this group is closer to \u201c Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham\u201d than any other. <\/span><\/p>\n The Kurdish \u201cWomen\u2019s Protection Unit\u201d remains the most prominent, well rounded, and fruitful experience. Part of the Kurdish People\u2019s Protection Unit, the armed wing of The Democratic Union Party (PYD), its women have developed a solid worldwide reputation for being strong and steadfast in battle. It is considered the best female fighting force in Syria courtesy of its extensive fighting experience using light and heavy weapons, which is rooted in their long history of armed struggle.<\/span><\/p>\n Translated by Dima Alghazzy<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lo\u2019ay Yassin 8\/25\/2016 Since the beginning of the uprising in March of 2011, the war has been imposing its deadly beaton life in Syria, especially on women, who are the primary victims of any conflict despite being the glue that holds families and the fabric of society together. A multitude of fighter groups were formed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[166],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-women-and-gender-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rising4freedom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rising4freedom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rising4freedom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rising4freedom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rising4freedom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rising4freedom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2280,"href":"https:\/\/www.rising4freedom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2278\/revisions\/2280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rising4freedom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rising4freedom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rising4freedom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rising4freedom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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