Gulan Botan/JINHA

KOBANÊ – As YPJ members fight alongside people of all ethnicities in the Syrian Democratic Forces, their smiles show their challenge to Daesh and their commitment to build a new life.

On December 23, the Syrian Democratic Forces (QSD) began a campaign against Daesh in the southern rural area of the Kobanê Canton of Rojava. On December 30, the QSD announced from the liberated Tishrin Dam that they had liberated all of southern Kobanê.

The YPJ (Women’s Defense Force) were among the members of many of the region’s peoples who took part in the action, as part of their resistance against the patriarchal mindset and Daesh.

JINHA photographers caught on camera the women’s smiles that tell of their hopeful determination to build a new life, despite all the devastation of war.

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