JINHA

TILTEMIR–Women across Rojava have taken up arms to protect their homelands from Daesh gang attacks. One of these women is Renda Mustafa, 31 years old and a mother of five.

There has been a surge of women joining self-defense forces in the wake of ongoing heavy Daesh attacks on the city of TilTemir, in Cizîre Canton. Daesh gangs have been stepping up their attacks on the city, whose hinterlands are thick with Assyrian, Syriac and Chaldean Christian villages. Their attempts at genocide have included the abduction, rape and torture of these women.

Renda and her husband are both volunteers in TilTemir'sasayiş, or peacekeeping, forces. Her daughter works in the hospital caring for the wounded.

"I'm very happy and proud of this. We'll do whatever is wanted from us," said Renda. "I'll protect my country until my dying breath. If I fall as a martyr in this struggle, I'll have died with dignity."

Renda says it's important for women not to abandon their lands in the face of Daesh.

"Our enemies want us to abandon this place. If there's resistance, they won't get what they want," she said. "There's no place like home, and these are days that demand self-sacrifice."

She says the peacekeeping forces of TilTemir are fighting so that their children can grow up in safety in the Mesopotamian city and never have to live in exile from their culture.

"With a duty like this, it's only women who can lead," she said. "Wecan cleanse our country of gangs."

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