Superb women: Kurdish Women Fighting ISIS in Syria

Rebbeca Brown

In Tel Hamis, it’s not unusual to see a military truck by a makeshift camp.  The People’s Protection Unit (YPG) is actively opposing IS.  Nor is it unusual to note that the passengers of that truck are all women.  And they’re not refugees. They’re not hostages.  They’re not dependents being quietly moved to a safer location.
They’re soldiers, and they’ve already been fighting this war for two years.
The YPG is an extension of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, which itself is a guerilla group labeled as a terrorist organization by the EU and the US.  The YPJ is the female unit for the YPG. That’s because they’ve been fighting on another front, as well, in Turkey. Turkey is a NATO ally.
Regardless of their politics elsewhere, these soldiers are a welcome addition to the ranks battling IS. There are forty to fifty thousand troops associated with Kurdistan in Syria right now.  Over a third of those troops are female.
The women in this photo are sharing a traditional Kurdish breakfast of tomatoes, cheese, peppers, and flatbread.  They’re also sharing a moment of levity on a peaceful morning at their post.  The peace may not last, and the meal will probably be one of their most decadent for some time.  These soldiers depend heavily on donations from the surrounding communities, as they have no supply chain to speak of.  While the locals are supportive of their efforts, they can only give what they have.  It’s not just food that the soldiers depend on the community for, either; they also look to those they defend for other supplies as well.
Like soldiers on any side of any conflict, anywhere in the world, these women must capture what calm, happy moments they can in the midst of chaos.  Not only is it impossible to tell when the next attack may be, it’s also impossible to know which of their friends may not be at the breakfast table the next day.