'No Man's Land': Who are the YPG? Kurdish female militia group was instrumental to fight ISIS in Syria
The current civil war in Syria began in 2011 after an uprising against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Assad practiced an authoritarian regime that had been in place since his father, Hafiz al-Assad became president in 1971. Bashar al-Assad's government used violent tactics to suppress demonstrators and extensively used police, military, and paramilitary forces to quell the demonstrations. Opposition militias formed in 2011 and by the following year, Syria had broken out into a full-fledged civil war.
A new series from Hulu, 'No Man's Land' follows a man as he searches for his sister in the country that is torn apart by the civil war and is currently one of the most unstable in the Middle East and the world. The show dives into the depths of the Syrian civil war through the eyes of Antoine, a young French man in search of his estranged, presumed-to-be-dead sister. While unraveling the mystery, piece by piece, Antoine ends up joining forces with a unit of Kurdish female fighters, fierce women, and ISIS' biggest nightmare and travels with them to ISIS-occupied territory. Antoine's journey crosses paths with adventurers and anarchists, spies and innocent victims and provides a unique look at the tragic events in Syria and the way they affect the entire world.
The unit of Kurdish female fighters forms a large inspiration for the creation of the show. Created by Ron Leshem and Amit Cohen from Israel, the show is intended to "explore the idea of crossing borders, crossing a virtual line" to be in a different world, according to Cohen who spoke to the Jewish Journal. Leshem added, "We were fascinated by the fact that there’s only one thing that ISIS fighters are afraid of. In their belief, if you’re killed by a woman you don’t get to heaven and don’t get 72 virgins. That seemed like an interesting starting point for a story."
So, who are these female fighters that ISIS is so afraid of?
In Syria, the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party is called the YPG (People's Protection Units). Its female brigade is called the YPJ (Women's Protection Units). The women of the YPJ have been on the frontlines in Syria, fighting ISIS which had taken a stronghold in a country ravaged by civil war. Established in 2013, the unit is mainly comprised of ethnic Kurds -- now, women form 40 percent of the militia with the protection units. The all-female branch of the YPG comprises at least 10,000 women between the ages of 18 and 25.
However, women have been part of Kurdish militia groups from way back in 1978. They played an instrumental role in the liberation movement from ISIS as guerillas, activists, and politicians. In 2012, they played a big part during the Rojava revolution, which was the political upheaval in Northern Syria. In January 2015, YPJ fighters helped to liberate Kobani, a city in northern Syria which had been besieged by ISIS since September 2014. When ISIS took control, most of its 40,000 residents fled over the Turkish border and much of the city was destroyed. By September 2015, the residents of the city started to return.
Now, however, both the YPG and YPJ have been declared as terrorist organizations by both Qatar and Turkey for the group's affiliation with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in southeast Turkey.
All eight episodes of 'No Man's Land' is available on Hulu on Wednesday, November 18.