Al-Khansaa Brigade
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The Al-Khansaa Brigade () was an all-women police or religious enforcement unit of the
jihadist Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...
group
Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...
(IS), operating in its ''de facto'' capitals of
Raqqa Raqqa (, also , Kurdish language, Kurdish: ''Reqa'') is a city in Syria on the North bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and b ...
and
Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...
.


History

Formed in 2014 and initially consisting of around sixty women, the brigade was used to enforce Sharia law, mainly in IS-occupied Raqqa and Mosul, but also in refugee camps as IS territory collapsed. The group was probably named after Al-Khansa, a female Arabic poet from the earliest days of Islam. It was unique in the Muslim world as, in other regimes with similar systems of
religious police Religious police are any Police, police force responsible for the enforcement of religious norms and associated religious laws. Nearly all religious police organizations in modern society are Islamic and can be found in countries with a large Mu ...
(such as Saudi Arabia), only men are permitted to enforce hisbah among women. After initially being set up to enable men disguised as women to be identified through searches at checkpoints, the group's role was expanded to police and punish women according to IS regulations, with the size of the group expanding to include 1000 women. An IS official, Abu Ahmad, said in 2014, "We have established the brigade to raise awareness of our religion among women, and to punish women who do not abide by the law." The outfit has also been called IS's 'moral police'. Women who went out without a male chaperone or were not fully covered in public were subject to arrests and beatings by Al-Khansaa, using whips and metal sticks. An example of crimes punished and sentences administered by Al-Khansaa were those for two women in Raqqa in 2015, who received 20 lashes for wearing form-fitting abayas, five for wearing makeup underneath their abayas, and another five for "not being meek enough when detained". The brigade had its own facilities to enforce
sex segregation Sex segregation, sex separation, sex partition, gender segregation, gender separation, or gender partition is the physical, legal, or cultural separation of people according to their gender or Sex, biological sex at any age. Sex segregation ca ...
. Its members were aged between 18 and 25, receiving a monthly salary of LS 25,000. According to defectors interviewed by ''
Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...
'', Al-Khansaa Brigade included many foreign women, and recruits were "trained for a month". Their pay is estimated to be "between £70 and £100 STG ">Pound_sterling.html" ;"title="Pound sterling">STG per month". According to one source hostile to IS, women were not allowed to drive cars or carry weapons, but women in the Al-Khansaa Brigade "can do both". In April 2017 the group released a recruitment video for female hackers claiming to have hacked over 100 social media accounts over the previous month. According to ''Iraqi News'', in 2017 Al-Khansaa members were used as snipers to defend IS-held Mosul against assaults by Iraq's security forces. Though IS has not held any territory since 2019, there have been reports of the group's members infiltrating refugee camps in Iraq, with some of these reports having come as late as 2021.


Activities

The Brigade has been known for their brutal violence against women. They oversee brothels of enslaved Yazidi women and search women at checkpoints. A former member of the brigade stated that they would give 60 lashes to women who attempted to escape, and 40 to women who wore high-heeled shoes or did not wear the abaya. Violaters were first warned, and they and their male guardians would be whipped after the second violation. The Al-Khansaa Brigade is instrumental in disseminating IS propaganda and recruiting foreign militants, particularly from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. , it was estimated by ''The Independent'' that up to 60 British women had joined the brigade. Recruiters were known to use
identity politics Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as ethnicity, Race (human categorization), race, nationality, religion, Religious denomination, denomination, gender, sexual orientation, Socioeconomic status, social background ...
, particularly ethnic tensions between
Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
and
Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...
Muslims, to lure "young women who feel oppressed as Sunni Muslims" towards IS.


See also

*
List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War A number of states and armed groups have involved themselves in the Syrian civil war (2011–present) as belligerents. The main groups were Ba'athist Syria and allies, Syrian opposition, the Syrian opposition and allies, Al-Qaeda and affiliate ...
* Women in warfare and the military (2000–present)


References

{{Reflist


External links


Al-Khansaa Brigade Manifesto
(Translation and analysis by the Quilliam Foundation) Factions of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant All-female military units and formations 2014 establishments in Syria Military units and formations established in 2014 Islamic religious police