. The
. While the
is mainly made up of Kurds, it also includes women from other ethnic groups in Northern
. As of late 2017, the
had over 24,000 volunteer fighters between the ages of 18 and 40. In the Syrian civil
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and was involved in the defense of Kobane during the Siege of Kobanî beginning in March 2014, with
vital in the battle.
Additionally, the
YPG,
YPJ and the PKK were involved in an August 2014 military operation at Mount Sinjar, where up to as many as 10,000 Yazidis were rescued from
genocide at the hands of ISIS. ISIS had taken control of most areas around Mount Sinjar after pushing out the Peshmerga. Because ISIS views the Yazidis as "a community of devil worshipers," those formerly inhabiting the town of Sinjar were forced to flee into the mountains. This left many Yazidis, including children and the elderly, without
food, shelter, or resources. Those still in the town were either massacred by ISIS or forced into sexual
slavery.
The
YPJ is politically aligned to the PYD, which bases its libertarian socialist philosophy on the writings of Abdullah Öcalan, the leading ideologue in the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), who is imprisoned by
Turkey. Central to
YPJ ideology is the PYD
feminist ideological concept of "Jineology".
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