The Kurdish Peshmerga women soldiers who are fighting on the frontline

[rooster59]

The Kurdish Peshmerga women soldiers who are fighting on the frontline



North of Iraq, on the frontline with the female soldiers. In their sights the jihadist fighters from the so-called Islamic State. The troop of women Kurdish soldiers have been involved in attacks and when needed have defended Kirkuk.

It is the oil-rich city in the northern region of Iraq where ISIL has been defeated – the city has been re-taken after battles with Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

Euronews correspondent Mohammed Shaikhibrahim spent time at one of the barracks with a troop of Kurdish female soldiers.

They belong to the Kurdish Freedom Party one of several Kurdish-Iranian groups which has taken up arms against the jihadist fighters. Thousands of women soldiers have come from Iran to join the Kurdish Forces in their conflict against ISIL.

“It’s the duty of any human being to fight this enemy – ISIL a terrorist organization. I am here side by side with my brothers and sisters. We are all under the Peshmerga flag and we decided to fight. I want to participate strongly in defending my land, my nation, and my home,” Zohra Zahran Kurdish troop leader told euronews.

The ages of the women in this particular military unit which euronews visited ranged between 18 and 28 years old, while in general for all other units among the Kurdish forces; female ages are between 18 and 40 years old.

All these fighters are volunteers – they receive no pay. One of them explained to our correspondent that serving their own country should be enough.

“I made the choice by my self to come here, a woman stays a women and the man stays a man – there is no big change in our daily life except here we all the same at the front line. I feel so proud to fight here while other men stay at home and do nothing – do not fight against this terrorist group,” she said.

It is clear they are ready to die for the cause. All have been given clear instructions not to be captured by ISIL. They face being cruelly raped by the jihadists who believe their religion gives them the right to do this women soldiers calling them “prisoners of war”.

Our correspondent reported: “Their hands are on the trigger. These women soldiers have here taken the responsibility on their shoulders to fight ISIL in spite of the dangers and the ferocity of the battle. Revenge for other women who have been killed and raped by ISIL give these women the determination to fight until the enemy is completely defeated and they have complete freedom. “

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-04-09

[Denim]

Women with some balls. Pity a lot of those Syrian men fleeing to Europe don't feel as strongly about defending their homes and land.

[otherstuff1957]

If they are too successful, the Turks will probably bomb them to oblivion.

[BuaBS]

And this means that not just the men but also the women should be sent back to Syria with a machine gun and lots of ammo , instead of invading europe. If Kurdish women can ...so can Syrians, Iraqui,.....

[TEFLKrabi]

Women with some balls. Pity a lot of those Syrian men fleeing to Europe don't feel as strongly about defending their homes and land.

Think you need to understand a little more about the conflict and it's geography before making such a statement. If the Syrian men were stuck in a town when ISIS arrived it wasn't so easy just to stand and fight.

[Denim]

Women with some balls. Pity a lot of those Syrian men fleeing to Europe don't feel as strongly about defending their homes and land.

Think you need to understand a little more about the conflict and it's geography before making such a statement. If the Syrian men were stuck in a town when ISIS arrived it wasn't so easy just to stand and fight.

Thank you for your insight but perhaps you can enlighten us as to what the difference is. Many of us have followed the tragic news from Syria and ask why so many have chosen to flee instead of fight.

I can well imagine how difficult it must be to decide what to do when invaded by a bloodthirsty and implacable enemy. It is easy for us armchair warriors to condemn those who have fled their homes as giving up too easily and yet as these women have said ,many of their own men have chosen not to fight. Notwithstanding the Kurds have a history of being oppressed and are therefore more familiar with having to defend themselves we can see that many men have chosen to leave rather than affiliate themselves with any resistance group. If those turning up on the borders of Europe were numbered in thousands it would be more understandable but what we are seeing is millions of people fleeing . There are many different groups fighting Isis and the government , but once the conflict escalated beyond rhetoric and street protests they have chosen to leave rather than affiliate themselves with any group struggling against oppression.

And yet there are many still fighting for one or other of the various groups opposed to Isis and the Assad government.

Yes , when your community is overrun by extremists it is natural in the first instance to leave and seek safety. But whereas that might apply to women and children why have so many young men not decided to stay and resist oppression as best as they can rather than deciding to attempt to further their careers in Europe.

If we can make apologies for those who have left what can we say about these women ? Are they just a bunch of fools who don't know when to quit or are they setting an example that others should follow , regardless of the difficulties.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Denim

[arjunadawn]

Insinuating there is some deep information or context that people are lacking that if known would appraise everyone that there are no cowards in this area is nonsense. I have never seen so many cowards in my life. Whereas there are always exceptions, troops of all nationalities have noted the cowardice in this region for decades (this is primarily due to forcing tribal men to fight for a national identity they care little about).

The only exception to this was Kurdish men. I have never worked with Kurdish females but apples rarely fall far from the tree. The Sham is entirely known for cowards in the face of battle (recent news yesterday from Mosul supports this again). The only time that the tendency toward cowardice is mitigated is when western troops are embedded as "observers" or "forward air support" or "commo." Basically, if left to their own face-saving they will collectively turn and run over and over again. With others present, the context is different and often some stalwart fighters are noted.

There is a reason so many western troops and contractors and aid workers, etc., are so fond of the Kurds: There is simply a deep seated honor and resilience in the most common of them. I suspect their women would be equally fearsome.

[simple1]

Women with some balls. Pity a lot of those Syrian men fleeing to Europe don't feel as strongly about defending their homes and land.

Think you need to understand a little more about the conflict and it's geography before making such a statement. If the Syrian men were stuck in a town when ISIS arrived it wasn't so easy just to stand and fight.

Thank you for your insight but perhaps you can enlighten us as to what the difference is. Many of us have followed the tragic news from Syria and ask why so many have chosen to flee instead of fight.

I can well imagine how difficult it must be to decide what to do when invaded by a bloodthirsty and implacable enemy. It is easy for us armchair warriors to condemn those who have fled their homes as giving up too easily and yet as these women have said ,many of their own men have chosen not to fight. Notwithstanding the Kurds have a history of being oppressed and are therefore more familiar with having to defend themselves we can see that many men have chosen to leave rather than affiliate themselves with any resistance group. If those turning up on the borders of Europe were numbered in thousands it would be more understandable but what we are seeing is millions of people fleeing . There are many different groups fighting Isis and the government , but once the conflict escalated beyond rhetoric and street protests they have chosen to leave rather than affiliate themselves with any group struggling against oppression.

And yet there are many still fighting for one or other of the various groups opposed to Isis and the Assad government.

Yes , when your community is overrun by extremists it is natural in the first instance to leave and seek safety. But whereas that might apply to women and children why have so many young men not decided to stay and resist oppression as best as they can rather than deciding to attempt to further their careers in Europe.

If we can make apologies for those who have left what can we say about these women ? Are they just a bunch of fools who don't know when to quit or are they setting an example that others should follow , regardless of the difficulties.

Exactly which armed group/s should those who have fled Syrian have joined. Assad's Army and Militias have committed numerous war crimes, including being responsible for approx 70% of civilian deaths. The opposition forces are mainly Islamist and a few more moderate groups such as Free Syrian Army (FSA receive relatively minimal support from the West). So far as I know none of the so called moderate groups have viable political representation to form a national government. Putting aside the occasional armed confrontation between Kurdish factions, overall the Kurd national groups do seem to have organised and accepted representation. In any case, for the moment, doesn't look as though Assad would be removed from power as a part of the peace process. In summary a cluster@#$%.

BTW UNHCR figures show of the registered Syrian refugees 49.2% are male and 50.8% are female.

http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php

[simple1]

Insinuating there is some deep information or context that people are lacking that if known would appraise everyone that there are no cowards in this area is nonsense. I have never seen so many cowards in my life. Whereas there are always exceptions, troops of all nationalities have noted the cowardice in this region for decades (this is primarily due to forcing tribal men to fight for a national identity they care little about).

The only exception to this was Kurdish men. I have never worked with Kurdish females but apples rarely fall far from the tree. The Sham is entirely known for cowards in the face of battle (recent news yesterday from Mosul supports this again). The only time that the tendency toward cowardice is mitigated is when western troops are embedded as "observers" or "forward air support" or "commo." Basically, if left to their own face-saving they will collectively turn and run over and over again. With others present, the context is different and often some stalwart fighters are noted.

There is a reason so many western troops and contractors and aid workers, etc., are so fond of the Kurds: There is simply a deep seated honor and resilience in the most common of them. I suspect their women would be equally fearsome.

Using your example is it not true the various Kurdish forces are fighting for their traditional homelands, not for State entities such as Syria and Iraq.

Given your experience do you accept tribal groups can be fierce fighters and proven to be extremely courageous e.g. facing certain death when refusing to swear allegiance in Daesh occupied villages and towns. On the other side of the coin I have read Iraqi Sunnis have shown they were more fearful of the Shiite militias in Iraq than Daesh, at least when al-Maliki was PM. Thoughts?

Edited April 10, 2016 by simple1

[Denim]

^ The FSA would on the face of it seem to be the best choice for moderates who wish to fight for their home and country. However , as it stands they are weak because they lack sufficient numbers to be a force to be reckoned with. An influx of strong young men would help them gain strength. But if no group is squeaky clean then you need more moderates staying behind to fight instead of leaving.

Hundreds of radicalized Muslims have managed to cross Europe to go and join Isis. Even young naive teenage girls have made the journey. And yet men already in country cannot somehow feel they should be doing more to resist oppression. Frankly it is disingenuous waste of time trying to defend people who should be doing more merely for the sake of political correctness.

[johnnywishbone]

Obamas' "Red Line" retrosuck is in my estimation largely responsible for this disaster.

I do not think the USA should stick its nose in every little civil disagreement, but the slaughter of innocents should not be ignored.

I am not a John Wayne, but I saw a little bit of chaos in Viet Nam, 63-68.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cats4ever]

They are all bloody "muslims" and should be avoided at all costs. Did I get that right for some of you?

[simple1]

^ The FSA would on the face of it seem to be the best choice for moderates who wish to fight for their home and country. However , as it stands they are weak because they lack sufficient numbers to be a force to be reckoned with. An influx of strong young men would help them gain strength. But if no group is squeaky clean then you need more moderates staying behind to fight instead of leaving.

Hundreds of radicalized Muslims have managed to cross Europe to go and join Isis. Even young naive teenage girls have made the journey. And yet men already in country cannot somehow feel they should be doing more to resist oppression. Frankly it is disingenuous waste of time trying to defend people who should be doing more merely for the sake of political correctness.

Ask you a question, right now would you have your son / daughter to fight alongside 'moderates' with limited fire power, no or very minimal medivac capability and so on? It is claimed many FSA fighters have joined Islamist groups as they no longer believe they can 'win'. There are contradictory reports, but a number claim FSA has all but dissipated. There are those who now claim Syrian Democratic Forces (mainly a Kurd front who would be representing Kurdish objectives, not Syria as a national entity) are achieving some success against Deash, but are viewed as 'terrorists' by the Turks & Assad regimes, so targeted for killing.

As I said above, IMO, it's currently a cluster@#$%. Personally if I were a moderate Syrian, right now is not the time to send my son / daughter to a fruitless death whilst a political solution to stop the fighting is far out of reach as a reward for the sacrifices. If the Assad regime retained power as a result of peace negotiations do you really believe he would enable a peaceful existence for the 'moderates' who opposed him - don't think so with his background of mass torture & extrajudicial killings of opponents. If an international agreement is put in-place to remove Assad and his cronies with a viable replacement government I would have a very different attitude.

[razer]

Uncensored Feed has had a page on FB over a year now on Peshmerga forces.

Interesting it took so long to get Euronews' attention over all the fluff news they put out.

[Scott]

The Kurds, who are loosely aligned with one another, have a very long history of fighting. Their fighters have their own name, Peshmerga, and every child and family have heard the tales of bravery. It's part of their tradition and culture. They are also capable of fighting with one another and tribal and religious fighting isn't unknown. They can stop fighting between each other at the drop of a hat and align against a common enemy.

Syrian was run with an iron grip. Any hint of dissent was dealt with ruthlessly. The Syrians are not like the Kurds and they do not have the cultural and traditional way or groupings that the Kurds do. Many might be opposed to Assad, but they don't necessarily know who to align themselves with. The Kurds are not very welcoming to outsiders fighting with them.

Even the Western gov'ts are trying to figure out which enemy is the worst enemy.

[Denim]

^ The FSA would on the face of it seem to be the best choice for moderates who wish to fight for their home and country. However , as it stands they are weak because they lack sufficient numbers to be a force to be reckoned with. An influx of strong young men would help them gain strength. But if no group is squeaky clean then you need more moderates staying behind to fight instead of leaving.

Hundreds of radicalized Muslims have managed to cross Europe to go and join Isis. Even young naive teenage girls have made the journey. And yet men already in country cannot somehow feel they should be doing more to resist oppression. Frankly it is disingenuous waste of time trying to defend people who should be doing more merely for the sake of political correctness.

Ask you a question, right now would you have your son / daughter to fight alongside 'moderates' with limited fire power, no or very minimal medivac capability and so on? It is claimed many FSA fighters have joined Islamist groups as they no longer believe they can 'win'. There are contradictory reports, but a number claim FSA has all but dissipated. There are those who now claim Syrian Democratic Forces (mainly a Kurd front who would be representing Kurdish objectives, not Syria as a national entity) are achieving some success against Deash, but are viewed as 'terrorists' by the Turks & Assad regimes, so targeted for killing.

As I said above, IMO, it's currently a cluster@#$%. Personally if I were a moderate Syrian, right now is not the time to send my son / daughter to a fruitless death whilst a political solution to stop the fighting is far out of reach as a reward for the sacrifices. If the Assad regime retained power as a result of peace negotiations do you really believe he would enable a peaceful existence for the 'moderates' who opposed him - don't think so with his background of mass torture & extrajudicial killings of opponents. If an international agreement is put in-place to remove Assad and his cronies with a viable replacement government I would have a very different attitude.

If there is one thing everyone agrees on it is that as you say it is a complete cluster@aaa. As to whether I personally would send my son to fight for a moderate force with little hope of winning the answer is yes I would and if I were not old and decrepit I would go with him and fight with him.

For me personally it would not only be about the odds stacked against me but the principle that someone has to stand up against evil men otherwise they win and then have everyone in their power to use and abuse at will.

I recognize that your outlook is equally valid and is the flip side to the coin but nonetheless there are people still out there fighting for what they believe in regardless of the difficulties facing them and I admire their fortitude and tenacity is continuing to struggle against their oppressors.

In the end it comes down to personal choice. Some have clearly had enough and left in droves. They may not have sent their sons to fight but they have risked their children's lives in flimsy boats trying to escape.

Others have stayed and are fighting. Why ? Clearly they have a different viewpoint.

Where it will all end is anyone's guess but if either Assad or some militant group come out on top it will not be good for ordinary people and the opportunity to resist will be gone forever.

[erobando]

^ I see.... so all groups fighting in Syria are evil and fighting for their own self-interests except the Free Syrian Army, which is a benevolent group fighting for the goodness of all.

This type of great analysis is partly why we have messes like Syria in the first place.

[Denim]

^ I see.... so all groups fighting in Syria are evil and fighting for their own self-interests except the Free Syrian Army, which is a benevolent group fighting for the goodness of all.

This type of great analysis is partly why we have messes like Syria in the first place.

Well.....this is a forum so you are free to give your own erudite analysis if you wish to do so. My point is that if nobody bothers to resist oppression then they will surely end up being oppressed ..... a fact well born out by history.

But if you have anything constructive to add to the thread why not do so.

What for example is your opinion on the original topic of the women fighting for what they believe in.