Kurdish YPJ women fighters face exclusion from Syria’s new army
Al Jazeera reporter Bernard Smith traveled to northeast Syria to cover Kurdish YPJ women fighters who are training and seeking formal roles in the country’s newly forming army. About 1,500 women have asked to be integrated, but commanders say they have been told Syrian society "isn’t ready" for women to serve in the military, effectively blocking their inclusion.
Why It Matters
The dispute touches on both the composition of Syria’s new armed forces and the broader question of women’s roles after years of conflict: a large cohort of trained fighters may be excluded from formal military structures largely because of reported societal resistance. How this issue is resolved will affect the security sector and gender norms in areas emerging from the war.
Key Facts
- Reporter: Bernard Smith, Al Jazeera
- Location: Northeast Syria
- Group: Kurdish YPJ women fighters
- Number seeking integration: Around 1,500
- Reported reason for exclusion: Commanders say they are being told Syrian society "isn’t ready" for women in the military
An Al Jazeera team led by Bernard Smith visited training sites in northeast Syria to report on Kurdish YPJ women fighters who are pressing to be part of the country’s new army. The women continue to train locally while seeking formal integration into the emerging national force.
According to the report, roughly 1,500 YPJ members have put themselves forward for inclusion. Their commanders say efforts to formalize their roles have run into a consistent response from authorities: that Syrian society is not prepared to accept women serving in the armed forces.
The women remain active in training amid that uncertainty, but the reported stance from decision-makers has so far limited pathways for their transfer into the new army structure. Commanders relay that message back to the fighters, creating a gap between the combat experience many of the women possess and the opportunities offered by the nascent military.
The situation leaves the future of these Kurdish women fighters unresolved. Their push for integration highlights a broader tension between post-conflict military reorganization and social attitudes toward women in uniform, as described in the Al Jazeera report.
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