The latest analysis carried out by the Coalition military in the struggle against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, reveals a dramatic but historically cyclical background.
The number of women engaged by ISIS in battle is increasing. Some of them even "command men".
The Sunni radicals, the same who impose severe restrictions (from clothing to clothing) based on a distorted view of religion, rediscover the utility of women. No longer as an exclusive sexual object and one of exchange between beasts cloaked in black, but with abilities considered to be like men.
That traditional and macabre role of women has been questioned by the terrorists themselves who are now using them extensively. Because the women, the ISIS strategists have discovered, have also studied and some of them are useful in the field rescue. Others, on the other hand, have carried out specific studies very useful in logistics. Finally, others also know how to shoot.
Among the first to mention the massive use of jihadist women include the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga who, at least until today, are fighting against the Islamic State.
The guerrillas were confronted near the town of Sinjar, in northern Iraq. The report is also confirmed in other military reports such as that prepared by Pareen Sevgeen, commander of a Kurdish female militia in Iraq, the Yja Star, also known by its battle name Beritan, during a firefight north of Sinjar.
It was a female voice that gave orders to men in the field - the commander of the unit who is also fighting for equal rights for women in the Region reported - the intercepted radio transmission was clearly related to a commander.
Subsequent analyzes identified the woman's foreign accent, probably of Indian origin. But the evolution of the role of women in the Islamic State is constantly evolving and an example is the "Al-Khansaa" brigade, formed exclusively by jihadists. A sort of moral police responsible for respecting the Shariah, with the ability to inflict penalties on women who have violated Islamic morality.
The existence of the brigade became known by a poster, posted in a town in northern Iraq. In the manifesto we read: "if the enemy is attacking your country and men are not enough to protect him, the imams give you permission to fight the infidels".
According to the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence, at least 20000 would be foreigners arriving in Syria and Iraq devoted to the cause of ISIS. 4000 are western citizens. 550 are women.
In addition to Western history, the precedents of women in battle are also numerous in the Islamic world. Just think of the massacre of the Dubrovka theater in Moscow, in October of the 2002, when forty terrorists (men and women) killed 170 people. The terrorists were part of a militant Islamic separatist movement in Chechnya.
Franco Iacch
