Al-Bab Military Council announced on Monday the establishment of its first all-female battalion. The two-month-old council is a joint Kurdish-Arab initiative, affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

This step was reportedly inspired by the experience of the SDF battalions fighting alongside the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ). Kurdish women have fought the Islamic State (ISIS) across the length and breadth of northern Syria.

Al-Bab’s newly-established all-female battalion will be deployed against ISIS and Islamist factions in Aleppo Governorate.

Amhan, a female fighter in the al-Bab Military Council, told ARA News that she joined up to eliminate ISIS in her region.

“I have joined the council because I believe in the necessity of liberating our territory from ISIS,” Amhan declared. “This terrorist group has killed and displaced many of our people in al-Bab.”

Akrin is also a new member of the al-Bab Military Council. She told ARA News that she decided to join the council after experiencing ISIS atrocities first hand. ISIS jihadists have a well-deserved reputation for gender-based violence.

“When ISIS invaded al-Bab city they detained my brother and killed him. I have been criticizing the practices of ISIS for a long time. I was arrested and tortured several times by ISIS terrorists,” Akrin affirmed. “An ISIS female jihadist was responsible for torturing me in a very brutal way.”

Akrim was not broken by her ISIS torturers. She told ARA News that she had “joined the newly-established all-female battalion in the military council in order to fight those terrorists and free our people.”

The al-Bab Military Council, which includes several opposition battalions, was established after the SDF and the allied Manbij Military Council pushed ISIS out of nearby Manbij city. The council has been trying to extend its ranks by incorporating fighters from different religious and ethnic communities. Now, that recruitment drive has been expanded to include women.

Reporting by: Heysem Heci

Source: ARA News

http://www.kurdishquestion.com/article/3564-inspired-by-kurdish-units-al-bab-military-council-creates-all-female-battalion