SDF Commander Rojda Felat stated that as the women’s forces, they set this year as the year to liberate Raqqa, and they have now fulfilled their promise to save women from ISIS cruelty along with Raqqa.
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander Rojda Felat, who participated in the operation to liberate Raqqa, spoke to the ANF about the liberation of Raqqa.
Felat started with saying, “We congratulate all the people of Raqqa, the peoples of the world and all our martyred friends,” and stated that as women, they have set this year as the year to liberate Raqqa.
SDF Commander said they trained themselves to achieve this goal and continued: “The Raqqa operation had a special significance for us. Some 500 women participated in the operation. We had set this year as the year of women’s liberation. So, women’s participation to the operation to liberate Raqqa was very meaningful. We had promised to save women from ISIS cruelty, and we have fulfilled this promise. This wasn’t just a promise to Shengali women, it was to all women wrapped in black robes. Maybe you saw it on the news, women who reached us tore out the abayas they had. They hugged us and told us they had been waiting for us to arrive for a long time. For these reasons, the liberation of Raqqa is particularly meaningful for women.”
Felat said they formed two women’s battalions in the operation to liberate Raqqa and said: “We announced them as well. New women are joining the SDF’s women’s forces. This is a great achievement for us. Women who meet us are honored and stress their resolve to march on our path.”
Felat concluded with a reminder that enlisting to the SDF continues from Raqqa’s villages and center and stated that the women who join say they didn’t know them before, and they got to know them after they arrived, and they wanted to join on this basis.
