An article by journalist Burjum Jodi

Within a year, the jihadists of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham tightened their grip on administrative and power centers in Syria. From the beginning of 2025 until today, war crimes are committed daily targeting Kurdish, Alawite, Druze, and other women, making these continuous attacks a tragic reality lacking any deterrent.

On December 8, 2024, the Syrian people took to the streets celebrating the fall of the former Syrian regime that ruled Syria for more than 53 years, placing their hopes in a new beginning. However, this people, who awaited change with joy, soon collided with a different reality. The jihadist groups affiliated with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which presented themselves as liberation forces and an alternative government, turned those hopes and dreams into a project based on patriarchy, racism, and sectarianism. Thus, Syria was pushed towards an obscure and perilous path.

The First Attacks

With this sudden transformation, jihadist groups, under the slogan of "liberating all Syrian land," hastened to control many vital centers. These groups, linked to foreign states, exploited the situation as an opportunity to expand their influence, seizing administrative sites and launching a widespread attack on the Manbij area, extending even to the Qarqozaq bridge and the Tishreen Dam.

Simultaneously, jihadist group attacks escalated on Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo, especially in Ashrafiyah and Sheikh Maqsoud. Faced with these assaults, the people of the area launched broad resistance in cooperation with internal security forces, showing great steadfastness in defending themselves and their neighborhoods. Despite the indiscriminate shelling targeting civilians, the moment turned into a heroic scene where women with their bodies and youth with their strength confronted the attack with firm faith and collective will.

Sectarian War and Organized Massacres

After the jihadists of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham failed to achieve their goals through launching attacks on the region of North and East Syria, and their influence—which they justified in the name of "liberating Syria"—waned, they turned to other Syrian cities. They began launching violent and complex attacks on the coastal regions, where members of the Alawite sect are concentrated.

Systematic massacres were committed, claiming the lives of hundreds of children, women, youth, and the elderly, where entire families were exterminated, and brutal acts of torture, mutilation, and displacement were practiced. These horrific crimes represented a transition of attacks to a stage of open sectarian war.

Al-Suwayda and Massacres Against the Druze

Following the massacres committed on the coast, the components and peoples in Syria entered a state of general mobilization and attempts at self-defense against extermination attacks. In July of last year, the jihadists of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham launched a new attack on the city of Al-Suwayda, which has a Druze majority. Within the first 48 hours of the attack, more than a hundred people from the city were killed, and their properties were looted and destroyed.

But Al-Suwayda, which quickly turned into a field of resistance, managed to repel the assaults and thwart the attacks of the jihadist groups. Nevertheless, the city located in southern Syria incurred heavy losses, and wide-scale massacres were committed there, leaving deep scars in the consciousness of its people.

A Year Marked by Horrific Massacres and a Policy of Denial

The jihadists of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham committed hundreds of massacres in northern, eastern, and southern Syria that are classified as war crimes. These attacks resulted in the killing of hundreds of women from Kurds, Arabs, Alawites, and Druze. But the suffering of women was more severe; they were targeted not only because of their national or religious identity but for being women, which made them targets for killing, rape, displacement, and torture. Thus, regardless of the collective massacres, Syrian women in different circumstances and places faced the same brutal policies.

The interim government in Damascus imposes harsh laws on women, dragging their lives into a cycle of fear and insecurity. In the absence of real leadership, an organized army, and a democratic constitution in Syria, women in their homes and cities are exposed to all forms of violence: from displacement, killing, torture, and rape to sale and exploitation in brutal ways. Thus, it can be said that Syrian women have been living for nearly fourteen years the same continuous tragedy without interruption.

Collective Political and Legal Resistance

Syrian women carry in their journey of struggle and resistance a rich legacy extending back to before the establishment of the modern Syrian Republic, where they recorded a prominent presence in history through their pioneering role in resistance, with Queen Zenobia being a shining example. At the same time, the women of the North and East Syria region possess a continuous struggle experience for more than 12 years, which could leave a deep impact on the reality and future of women.

The path to liberating Syrian women from various forms of attacks passes through building a system that guarantees their political, legal, and social rights. Amid the complex circumstances witnessed in the country, it becomes necessary for women to possess a special system to defend themselves. If they can achieve an advanced step in this field, it will pave the way for consolidating their presence in the political and legal arena inside Syria.

This path has already begun in the North and East Syria region through a social contract, but it needs to transform into a permanent presence encompassing all parts of the country