Diyala’s Khanaqin women rally for Kurdish female fighter in Syria
Shafaq News– Diyala
Young women in Iraq’s Diyala Khanaqin district launched a symbolic solidarity campaign on Thursday after a circulated online video footage showed the abuse of a Kurdish female fighter in Syria, using hair braiding and decoration as a peaceful act of support.
Speaking to Shafaq News, Suzan Ahmed, one of the organizers, explained that the initiative responded to what participants viewed as “an attack on the dignity of Kurdish women and an effort to diminish their role.” Rather than protest with anger, she said, the group chose a creative gesture to express unity and resilience.
“The campaign focused on collective hair braiding as a moral statement, not a political one,” Ahmed noted, affirming solidarity with women fighters and rejecting humiliation.
She added that the effort drew broad participation from residents and local activists, many of whom described it as “a clear signal that abuses against women will not be met with silence,” asserting that the initiative also aims to confront gender-based violence and reinforce shared values of dignity and mutual support.
Similar displays of solidarity unfolded earlier this week across several Iraqi provinces, including in Diyala and Kirkuk. In Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, hundreds, mostly Syrian Kurds living in the Kurdistan Region alongside local residents, demonstrated near the United Nations mission, close to the US consulate, urging international protection for civilians in northern Syria.
The protests coincided with escalating clashes in northern and eastern Syria between government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with fighting recently spreading near detention sites holding members of ISIS.
Read more: Syria’s calm: An end to threat or a start of a complex security phase for Iraq?
