Kurdish woman leads Syrian's Kobani battle against Islamic State

Kurdish woman leads Syrian's Kobani battle against Islamic State
BEIRUT,— A Kurdish woman fighter is leading the battle against Islamic State jihadists in the Syrian Kurdistan battleground town of Kobani, a monitoring group and activists say.

"Mayssa Abdo, known by the nom de guerre of Narin Afrin, is commanding the YPG in Kobani along with Mahmud Barkhodan," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdel Rahman said. 

The secular and left-leaning Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) group has been defending Kobani, on the border with Turkey, since Islamic State fighters launched an assault on September 16.

The group, the de facto army of the Kurdish regions of north and north-east Syria, is the armed wing of the powerful Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).
As is the custom for Kurdish fighters, Mayssa Abdo, 40, uses a pseudonym, with her name coming from her home region Afrin, located, like Kobani in Syrian Kurdistan region known also (Rojawa), in Aleppo province.

"Those who know her say she is cultivated, intelligent and phlegmatic," Mustefa Ebdi, a Kurdish activist from Kobani, said.

"She cares for the mental state of the fighters and takes interest in their problems," he said.
Women traditionallywww.Ekurd.net form a major part of Kurdish fighting forces, and they are well represented among Kurdish forces in neighbouring Turkey and Iraq.

On October 5, a young Kurdish woman fighter, Dilar Gencxemis, identified by the YPG by the nom de guerre of Arin Mirkan, blew herself up outside Kobani in an attack which reportedly killed dozens of IS militants.
She became the first Kurdish woman suicide bomber since the 2011 start of Syria's conflict.

Since the withdrawal of government forces from Kurdish areas of Syria in mid-2012, the PYD has set up local councils for Kurds to run their own affairs, with women filling 40 per cent of seats.

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