Kurdish Women In Syria Fighting For Freedom:

These AK-47-Wielding Women Are Fighting for Religious Freedom in Syria

JOSH SHEPHERD 

When she first heard the story four years ago, she could hardly believe it.

A friend in the U.S. military tipped off journalist Gayle Lemmon about several female-led regiments in Syria. They were reportedly “doing most of the fighting and dying” to defeat ISIS terrorists. Though embattled on every side, they had established a haven of democracy.

“Who wouldn’t want to tell this David versus Goliath story?” Lemmon told me in a phone interview. “Especially, in this case, when ‘David’ was also a woman.”

She decided to check it out firsthand. It became her first of seven trips to northeastern Syria between 2017 and 2020.

Released this week, her book The Daughters of Kobani has been praised as a story of beautiful resilience in the midst of terror.

With reporting attuned to human stories, Lemmon illuminates Syria’s complex conflicts. It begins in 2013 — when “ISIS” became a household word. ISIS is an acronym for: the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

ISIS terrorists represented a new type of threat. They were driven by extremist ideology rather than backed by a nation. Their violent followers routinely raped, enslaved and tortured innocents. Their ideology required the subjugation of women.

Americans saw atrocities reported, yet the Iraq War loomed large. “The public was not looking to enter another conflict in that region,” said Lemmon. “Then this ground force of women brings the fight to ISIS. They are really fighting for their neighborhoods, towns and culture. It captures U.S. officials’ imagination.”

Some Kurdish women were only teenagers when they volunteered to fight. They had inferior weaponry, little ammunition and less experience in combat.

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