Christian Female Fighters Join Yazidis to Fight ISIS

By Precy Dumlao
Female Fighters of Kurdish Troops Regain Kobani from ISIS
Female Fighters of Kurdish Troops Regain Kobani from ISIS

A group of Christian women who have decided that they will no longer sit idly by and let ISIS kidnap and rape them have risen to take arms against the deadly ISIS.

According to The Times of Israel many of the women are married and mothers themselves. But they have decided to leave behind their jobs and their children to raise a force that ISIS would be afraid to reckon with.

The report says that the women in the Syriac Christian minority in the northeast believe that it is up to them to make the future of their children safe.

Jihadists are also not too keen on fighting women fighters as their Islamic beliefs bid them that anyone who is killed by a woman will not earn that victim a place and a reward in Islam's version of Paradise.

The small group of Syriac Christian females currently number 50 graduates from its training camp in Al-Qahtaniyeh town, or Kabre Hyore (Syriac). It is also otherwise known as Tirbespi in Kurdish.

The group is modeling themselves to the women of the YPJ, who are the female counterpart to the Kurdish People's Protection Units or YPG.

Syriac Christians - comprising both Orthodox and Catholics - belong to the Eastern Christian tradition and pray in Aramaic. These represent 15 percent of Syria's 1.2 million Christians.

The unit's first major action was to fight side by side with the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of Kurdish, Arab and Christian fighters. This unit recently recaptured the town of Al-Hol.

The town is a key route between Syria and Iraq. It was also the first major victory for the SDF, which has captured around 200 villages in the region in recent weeks.

The support the unit receives includes air support from the US-led coalition and drops of American weapons.

The fighters train in an old mill. They are taught military, fitness and academic elements and admit that their limited experience means they can only focus on the Christian parts of Hasakeh province for now.

UK's Express expounded on the reasons why girls are a formidable force against the much feared ISIS.

Telhelden, a 21-year-old commander of the Women's Protection Units, a faction of YPG,  told CNN that "They think they're fighting in the name of Islam. They believe if someone from Daesh [ISIS] is killed by a girl, a Kurdish girl, they won't go to heaven. They're afraid of girls."

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