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Women take to the front line as IS fights to the end
Smoke rises after a strike on Baghouz, Syria, the Islamic State group’s last piece of territory.Credit:AP
The woman, whose face is covered except for her eyes, replies: "The bullets of these khuffar [infidels], these bombings, are very weak. We will have victory, inshallah [God willing]."
Fighting was continuing in Baghouz on Friday night, despite US President Donald Trump's statement declaring that "100 per cent" of Islamic State territory had been taken.
In videos released by Islamic State's official Amaq media channel in recent days, fighters who appear to be women are taking up positions on the front line.
Militants in black abayas can be seen firing AK47s at Syrian Democratic Forces positions.
Three women suicide bombers have also blown themselves up in the past week, says the Syrian Democratic Forces, which itself has a large number of female fighters.
Women in combat have until now been considered a taboo by Islamic State.
"Isil has always been adamant that women should participate in violence only under circumstances of 'defensive jihad', or in simpler terms, only when Muslim lands are under attack and it is strategically necessary," said Devorah Margolin, a senior war studies analyst at King's College London.
"The loss of physical territory for them really seems to have been the final straw," she said. "With their shift in rhetoric around the summer of 2017 [the final days of the offensive in the Iraqi city of Mosul], we have not seen women fighting in the way we would have expected.
"However, with the last stand in Baghouz, we are seeing that act of defensive jihad really put to the test, and we are seeing women take up arms."
Pictures online of women's bodies in Baghouz have stirred anger among Syrians, who say the US-coalition and its local allies have not taken sufficient care to protect civilians. While Isil has been using women and children as human shields, the shrouded body in one photo is seen close to ammunition and a gun, suggesting she was a combatant.
Nearly 65,000 people have left the area since December, at least 5000 of them fighters.
Telegraph, London
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