Mese: Aprile 2015

How I met Beritan, a YJA Star – YPJ hero

I met Beritan in early March in Sinjar, Iraq. I went to one of the hot spots in the war against ISIS because I wanted to interview a YPJ fighter for an ongoing project about women in war.

Alex Potter, a photojournalist who I travelled with, and me arrived on the outskirts of the disputed city in the early afternoon. We first met with the Peshmerga and then were able to go and meet the YPG/ YPJ fighters. The two Kurdish forces, much divided on politics and the future of Kurdistan, have declared a truce to fight ISIS. “The worst enemy we have ever had,” said Beritan later.

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Horror stories from Yazidi girls who escaped ISIS

Jalila, a 12 years-old, was sold to ISIS by a family friend while her and her family were trying to flee their village in Sinjar. Then her ordeal began. She was raped by jihadis.

“I told him not to touch me and begged him to let me go,” she said. “I told him to take me to my mother. I was a young girl, and I asked him, ‘What do you want from me?’ He spent three days having sex with me.” 

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ISIS women joining the frontline to fight

Something is changing in the Islamic State. Women travelling to Syria to join the terrorist group want to fight and they are travelling to the front lines in Iraq. This is the result of my latest reporting trip in Iraqi Kurdistan, where several military officials confirmed this new trend.

In Sinjar, one of the main front of the war against ISIS, both Peshmerga and YPJ told me about ISIS women having a very active role in the fight. I first talked to Beritan, a YJA Star brigade commander who heard a Daesh woman on the radio giving orders to men. “She was obviously a commander,” said Beritan while having a chai in her base in the outskirt of Sinjar city. Less than a hundred meters away Colonel Rafat Salim Raykoni said ISIS women are in Sinjar. “They are mainly snipers and work in logistic,” he added.

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Benedetta Argentieri

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