Mercy and forgiveness are nowhere to be found for this young battalion of Yazidi women who’ve lost everything because of ISIS. Rather, it’s revenge they seek for thousands of their people who have been raped, murdered, tortured, and more by the jihadists.
Yazidi folklore musician Xate Shingali, 30, formed the ‘Sun Girls’ battalion after receiving special permission from the Kurdish president. The group, which she started on July 2, now has more than 120 female fighters between the ages of 17 and 30.
The Daily Mail has more details:
Speaking from the Sharya refugee camp, just outside Dohuk, Xate said the male Kurdish fighters are training them to use AK47s.
She added: 'We have had only basic training and we need more... But we are ready to fight ISIS anytime.'
Xate's youngest recruit, Jane Fares, 17, escaped from Sinjar mountain with her brother and sister when ISIS laid siege to the entire region.
The softly spoken teenager, who has only just joined the unit, said her family is very proud of her, adding: 'My father was so happy when I had told him I had joined this union.
'All families accept us to join this union... We are happy to fight along side the peshmerga.'
In May, a Yazidi girl the same age as Jane described how she and her little sister were raped daily by a depraved jihadist before they were both sold at a 'slave auction'.
An even younger Yazidi girl known only as Bahar, 14, once told of how she was forced to undergo medical exams to 'prove' her virginity before she was sold to ISIS fighters in another twisted auction.
The terror group is widely known to keep Yazidi girls it kidnaps as sex slaves while male soldiers are executed on camera but none of this seems to worry young Jane.
She said: 'Before I was scared, now I cannot be scared of them. Any second they tell us to fight ISIS I am ready... I hope to kill them all.'
The young fighter is equally defiant about Islamic State's vile beheading videos, adding: 'If they kill us like that [beheading], we will kill them like that.'
Many of the women told the Daily Mail that before last August they felt safe, and even had dreams of becoming teachers and journalists, for example. Now, however, as any semblance of resuming a normal life is gone, those dreams for these women have change drastically; all they want is revenge.
In the next few months, the unit is planning to move to a more permanent base nearer to the battlefront on Sinjar mountain, but they are short of weapons.
And Xate hopes European countries will send them more 'weapons and airplanes' to help them battle ISIS.
When the terrorists attacked in August, many of those in the surrounding Arab villages joined ISIS and committed atrocities against their Yazidi neighbours - something these recruits have not forgotten.
'The Arabs who joined ISIS betrayed us. We will not let that happen again,' said 24-year-old deputy Adiba Sido, 'They are not human... We are here to avenge and to defend our land.'
Unlike in ISIS, where the men and women fighters are separated, Kurdish fighters are allowed to mix with the opposite gender on the battlefield.
'My sister is also a peshmerga…[and] we can fight like men,' Xate's 24-year-old deputy Adiba Sido, said.
With the determination and passion these women have for avenging the suffering their community has endured and ridding their country of the militant jihadists, there’s no doubt the ‘Sun Girls’ will be a helpful addition to the peshmerga. Securing help from the international community in providing weapons and training will be key, however. And whether Western nations will step up to the plate remains to be seen.
There's one thing the women are sure of though: “ISIS will never go to heaven,” Xate said when asked about the rumor that ISIS jihadists are afraid to be killed by a woman for fear that they won’t receive their reward of 72 virgins in heaven. “We will kill them.”
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