Beirut (AFP) - A Kurdish woman fighter is leading the battle against Islamic State jihadists in the Syrian battleground town of Kobane, a monitoring group and activists said Sunday. . The secular and left-leaning Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) group has been defending Kobane, on the border with Turkey, since Islamic State (IS) fighters launched an assault on September 16. The group, the de facto army of the Kurdish regions of north and northeast Syria, is the armed wing of the powerful Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD). As is the custom for Kurdish fighters, Mayssa, 40, uses a pseudonym, with hers coming from the Afrin region where she was born that is located like Kobane in Aleppo province. Those who know her say she is cultivated, intelligent and phlegmatic, said Mustefa Ebdi, a Kurdish activist from Kobane. She cares for the mental state of the fighters and takes interest in their problems, he said. Women traditionally form a major part of Kurdish fighting forces, and they are well represented among Kurdish forces in neighbouring Turkey and Iraq.
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 20:34:26 +0000
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