The Women's Protection Units (
YPJ) is an all-female militia involved in the Syrian civil
war. The
YPJ is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the armed forces of
Rojava, and is closely affiliated with the male-led
YPG. While the
YPJ is mainly made up of Kurds, it also includes women from other ethnic groups in Northern
Syria. As of late 2017, the
YPJ had over 24,000 volunteer fighters between the ages of 18 and 40. In the Syrian civil
war, the
YPJ and the
YPG have fought against various groups in northern
Syria, including the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and was involved in the defense of Kobane during the Siege of Kobanî beginning in March 2014, with
YPJ troops being
… Read more 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".
The Autonomous Administration of North and East
Syria (AANES), also known as
Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern
Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Afrin, Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, Manbij and Deir Ez-Zor. The region gained its de facto
autonomy in 2012 in the context of the ongoing
Rojava conflict and the wider Syrian Civil
War, in which its official military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has taken part. The region has implemented a new social
justice approach which emphasizes rehabilitation,
empowerment and social care over retribution. The death penalty was abolished.
Prisons house mostly people charged with terrorist
… Read more activity related to ISIL and other extremist groups, and are a large strain on the region's
economy. The autonomous region is ruled by a coalition which bases its policy ambitions to a large extent on democratic libertarian socialist
ideology of democratic confederalism and have been described as pursuing a model of
economy that blends co-operative and market enterprise, through a system of local councils in minority, cultural and
religious representation. The main military force of the region is the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Syrian
rebel groups formed in 2015. The SDF is led by the Kurdish majority People's Protection Units (
YPG).
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes,
sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and mobility, to
fight a larger and less-mobile traditional military.
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