They Fought ISIS. Now Kurdish Women Fighters Are Searching for a Place in Syria’s New Order 

YPJ members fear that integration plans will absorb male SDF fighters while excluding women from Syria’s new military 

By Rizik Alabi / The Media Line 

[DAMASCUS] More than 1,500 fighters from the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) are seeking a place in Syria’s new security institutions after the force was excluded from the army integration arrangements that followed the dissolution of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as an independent military organization. 

YPJ commander Nowruz Ahmed said Syrian officials rejected the group’s proposal to enter the army as an independent women’s brigade or battalion. Speaking to Reuters from a military base in Qamishli in an interview published September 2, Ahmed said the proposal grew from the force’s years of combat experience against the Islamic State group (ISIS). 

“We were aiming to join the army, because our forces have experience and expertise that would enable them to protect themselves in an organized way in the form of an independent brigade or battalion,” Ahmed told Reuters. 

The YPJ is now discussing a possible role within the Interior Ministry’s special operations forces. Ahmed told Reuters that the YPJ has more than 1,500 fighters and has asked whether they could be incorporated as a single force. She said a response was expected in the coming days. 

The dispute concerns more than employment within the new state. YPJ leaders want their members to remain together as an organized women’s formation rather than be split among different units or assigned individually across the country. 

“When we hear that the men will be integrated into the army while we are told there is no place for us, it is natural for us to feel excluded,” a Kurdish fighter who asked to be identified as Hevrin Jwan to protect her identity told The Media Line. “We did not carry weapons for a short period. We spent years fighting and training, and we have military experience that we do not believe can simply be ignored,” she said. 

The YPJ was formed during Syria’s civil war and fought alongside the US-backed SDF in campaigns that drove ISIS from large parts of northern and eastern Syria. Its all-women ranks became internationally recognized during the fight against the terrorist group. 

That wartime role now collides with Damascus’ effort to bring armed formations under unified state command. On August 25, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi announced that the SDF had ended its mission as an independent military force after integration into Syrian army brigades. The January integration agreement called for SDF military and security personnel to enter the Defense and Interior ministries individually following security vetting. 

Another Kurdish fighter, who asked not to be named, told The Media Line that the reported rejection raised concerns about the role envisioned for women in Syria’s armed institutions. 

“If the disagreement is about the structure of the unit or who it reports to, that is something that can be negotiated,” she said. “But when the message is that there is no place for us in the army at all, the problem becomes much bigger. We want to be part of state institutions, but without being asked to give up everything we have built over the past years,” she said. 

The Syrian Defense and Interior ministries did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment about the discussions. Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba told Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw that YPJ fighters would be welcome in the ministry, without specifying their duties or whether they could serve as a unified formation. He said Interior Ministry personnel could be deployed across Syria. 

Sources familiar with the discussions have also spoken of an earlier proposal for the fighters to join the tourist police. A YPJ spokeswoman denied that such an offer had been made. 

For many YPJ members, the negotiations concern their collective identity as much as their future assignments. “They always look at women as weak,” YPJ fighter Goksu Afrin told The Media Line. “We do not derive our strength from men or from the current state, and we insist on maintaining our own distinct identity. This is our choice, and this is our cause. We are open to everyone.” 

Another Kurdish commander said Syria’s constitution should guarantee a defined role for women fighters. “We did not wait until today for someone to defend us,” she told The Media Line. “We women defended ourselves.” 

Service in the Interior Ministry’s special operations forces could offer a compromise: formal entry into the state while preserving some collective structure and leveraging the fighters’ training. Whether Damascus will accept that arrangement remains unclear. 

“We do not want a confrontation with the state, and we do not want to remain outside its institutions,” one fighter told The Media Line. “But we also do not want the price of integration to be the end of our existence as an organized women’s force.” 

PHOTO- Kurdish female fighters in northeastern Syria. (Courtesy: Kurdish Media Observatory) 

Brought to you by www.srnnews.com