Overview

The YPJ (Women's Protection Units) is an all-female unit of Kurdish and Arab women who are fighting ISIS in Syria. Previously unheard of until 2012, the YPJ is comprised of volunteers from towns and villages that came under threat as the terror group extended its influence and started committing atrocities against the local population. These new recruits joined the group not only to protect their families from ISIS militants, but also to create a new feminist, socialist and democratic society, a "revolution within a revolution".