Women in Amuda patrol streets as Rojava mobilizes

ROJAVA — Women in Amuda, in Syria’s Kurdish region of Rojava, have taken to the streets to help guard neighborhoods, saying the patrols are a national duty as Syrian government forces and allied Islamist militias press assaults in the area.

Women have been stationed in streets and alleyways as part of what residents described as a broader local effort to defend the city. One woman told 964media, “All of us here, from youth to old people, continue to protect our land.”

She said the patrols are aimed at preventing attacks on civilians. “We are all defending our city, our children and our land, so the enemy doesn’t massacre us. What we are doing is part of the women’s struggle. We promise to continue on this path, the path of free women,” she said.

She said the women were prepared to defend Kurdish areas more broadly. “We choose to live either in dignity or not at all. We want to live on our land in our own language like everyone else, with honor and dignity,” she said, also calling on the international community not to abandon the Kurds.

Another woman said the patrols are coordinated, with street monitoring intensified at night. “Now, all people in Rojava are revolutionaries. Wherever protection is needed, we will be there,” she said.

Women taking part in the effort framed the patrols as a symbol of wider mobilization and Kurdish unity, urging Kurdish women in all parts of Kurdistan to raise their voices. “Our struggle is for Kurdistan,” one woman said, referring to what she described as atrocities committed by Syrian government forces and allied militias against Kurds.

Rights organizations and local reports have documented abuses and violations targeting civilians based on their Kurdish identity. In a recent report, Community Peacemaker Teams said six members of a single Kurdish family were killed and six others injured by Syrian government forces because they were Kurdish.