HTS gangs are rescuing women-hating ISIS members

2026-01-19 17:08:21


	Semra Turan

	NEWS CENTRE -  Hayat Tahrir el-Sham (HTS) , which attacked the prison area where DAESH is being held, is endangering the lives of women by rescuing DAESH. The massacres and practices carried out by DAESH are still fresh in people's memories.

	 

	The attacks launched by HTŞ gangs in Aleppo on 6 January spread to northern and eastern Syria. While the attacks continued, a ceasefire was reached between the Syrian Democratic Forces (QSD) and HTS on 18 January. However, despite the ceasefire, HTS gangs increased their attacks. The attacks intensified in Ain Issa, Shaddad and Raqqa.

	 

	Another target of the attacks was the prisons where ISIS members are held. HTS gangs attacked the Eqtan Prison in Raqqa, where thousands of ISIS gang members are held, trying to help them escape. Violent clashes are taking place between QSD and HTS gangs in the prison area.

	 

	Attacks on prisons holding ISIS members are causing great fear. The revival and mobilisation of ISIS in Syria, which has spread fear throughout the Middle East and the world, is causing great concern. ISIS's massacres and practices against the people, especially women, are still fresh in the memory.

	 

	ISIS attacks on women:

	 

	*Following the 2014 attack on Sinjar (Şengal), ISIS abducted thousands of Yazidi women and girls, selling them as ‘spoils of war’ in slave markets.

	 

	*Rape, torture and forced detention were legitimised by ‘religious fatwas’, and women and girls were forcibly married. Women who resisted were killed or driven to suicide.

	 

	*Many women were also forcibly confined, stoned or burned to death, and their bodies were displayed in public squares.

	 

	*ISIS largely prohibited women from going out alone, working, accessing education and healthcare.

	 

	*ISIS's actions were deemed war crimes under international law, and the attacks on Yazidi women in particular were recognised as genocide by the UN.

	 

	*In 2015, ISIS targeted and destroyed the city built by Queen Zenobia in Syria. This attack was seen as an assault on women's freedom and historical memory.

	 

	The end of the ISIS gangs, which had spread fear throughout the world, came with the resistance of Kurdish women. Kurdish women, who inspired women around the world, particularly in North and East Syria, saved the world from the scourge of ISIS with their lives and tremendous resistance.

	 

	This time, Kurdish women are fighting fiercely against HTS, which is a lifeline for ISIS. Women warn that if ISIS gangs in prisons escape, they will once again become a scourge for the world, calling for the attacks to be stopped and for the world public to raise their voices against these attacks.