Tag: Iraq

Women who join ISIS, are they really just victims?

The teenager who joined ISIS

Marlin was 15 years-old when she decided to travel to Syria last May.  She grew up in Boras,  Sweden. She wanted to join the Islamic State with her boyfriend and be part of the jihad. According  to Swedish press, when she traveled to the Islamic State, she was also pregnant. Allegedly she got “mislead” by an ISIS recruiter in Sweden who convinced her to make the journey.

On February 17 she got rescued by Kurdish anti-terrorist force, CTD, during a raid in Mosul. The girl, who is now 16,  is in Kurdistan and she will be hand over to Swedish authority. Her boyfriend, most probably at this point husband, got killed by a Russian airstrike. It is unclear what the girl was doing in Mosul, and why she was moved there.

A statement from the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) said the family was informed of the human rescue mission.

Most of the articles that have been published so far emphasis the “misleading” part, treating this girl as a victim. There is a sense of pity around them, as if we are unable to process their choice, so we tend to believe someone else forced them into the jihad. Some girls maybe so, but not all of them.

Continua a leggere

Women in war, some changes on the battlefield

Hello everyone,

I have not been updating the blog for a while. I am sorry about that. The good news is I have been working on several new projects, some of those I hope to show you quite soon.

First of all let me tell you what I have been producing lately. For the website War Is Boring I wrote about Maria Giulia Sergio, aka Fatima. The 27 years-old became the first known Italian woman who has joined ISIS. She left her home town, few miles from Milan, in October 2014, and fled to Syria, where now she is a proud Jihadi bride. While living in the Islamic State she tried to convince her family to join her. Her parents and sister got arrested in one of the most important anti-terrorist operation against IS in Italy. If you want to know about her story, this is the link.

In the meantime I gathered even more evidence on ISIS women fighting on the front lines.  I have been showed a picture of women killed on the battlefields around Kobane, at the height of the fight. The person who took this picture doesn’t want it to go public. They were dressed in uniform and not wearing a niqab, they tried to blend in with male jihadi. There are three bodies amongst a group of seven. Also other YPG foreign fighters claimed to have a killed women fighting with Daesh. I will keep you updated on that.

Continua a leggere

Letter from Kurdistan-2 “Look how my family is living”

10626614_709178365819781_4957041347871004430_n

“Look how my family is living”

These pictures were sent to me on Wednesday evening. They were taken in Zakho, Iraq. The town, which is in the Kurdistan region, is at the border with Turkey and it is currently hosting several Yazidi families who escaped from ISIS in the Sinjar area. Thousands of them just want to leave Iraq for good. “We don’t have any future here. We are not muslim and we will always be harassed” said Fahrani over the phone from an IDP camp.

Continua a leggere

Why nobody talks about PKK fighters?


 last

This map has been published by the Institute for the Study of War on August 26. It is a report on Iraq. Airstrikes and major clashes are happening between Mosul and Erbil, claims the institute.  Pashmerga are fighting IS, with the help of “unknown gunmen.”  Everybody talks about the Kurdish fighters and of course about ISF – Iraq Security Forces. Very few people recognize the Kurdistan Workers Party aka PKK as a legittimate force on the ground, which is not just fighting but also rescuing civilians attacked by ISIS. It happened on Mount Sinjar, where, according to sources on  the ground, they were the only ones who pushed back IS and opened a safe passage for families and innocents to escape.

 

“We are alive just because of them. The Pashmerga left us there alone without even shooting a bullet,” said Faris, a 27 years old engineer, who is helping to set up a camp by the Iraq border with Turkey. Most of the Yazidi praise the PKK and some join their fight. About 2,000 of them are still on Mont Sinjar where US airstrikes are happening and coordinated with the help of some team on the ground . In the meantime PKK fighters are pushing back IS forces in Al Malakia, just at the border with Syria. The PKK is not fighting along side Pashmerga. The Kurdish soldiers are protecting Erbil while the PKK is on the field.

Continua a leggere

Benedetta Argentieri

Made with love by . All rights Reserved.