I was even scared of myself’

A former fighter in ISIS’ female unit has spoken to CNN about her time with the organisation. Pic: Screengrab

A FORMER IS member has opened up on what life is really like inside the brutal Khansa’a Brigade — an all female unit that patrols the streets of Raqqa, Syria.

The 25-year-old former teacher, known only as Khadija, told CNN of her life inside the group of up to 30 women charged with ensuring people adhere to strict dress codes that demand women have their faces covered.
“At the start I was happy I was carrying a gun,” she said.
“It was something new. I had authority. I didn’t think I was frightening people. But then I started asking myself ‘where am I? Where am I going? I could feel the ties dragging me some place ugly.”

During the interview Khadija describes how she grew up in Syria and became involved as an activist against the al-Assad regime — a time she describes as “great” before everything turned to chaos.
A man she met online lured her into joining IS with promises that it wasn’t a terrorist organisation and they could get married.
“He would say, ‘We are going to properly implement Islam. Right now we are in a state of war, a phase where we need to control the country, so we have to be harsh,’” CNN reports.

The group has established a stronghold in Raqqa, Syria

She convinced her family to move to Raqqa where a cousin who was also married to an IS fighter introduced her to the Khansa’a Brigade. She was paid a salary and learned how to fire a gun.
Women who broke the rules in the city were lashed by Umm Hanza — a terrifying leader describes as “not a normal female”.
“She’s huge, she has an AK, a pistol, a whip, a dagger and she wears the niqab,” she said.

Khadija is not the first young woman to be seduced by IS. In November last year Scottish teenager Aqsa Mahmood disappeared and is thought to be in Syria tweeting under the name Umm Layth.
Authorities in France and the US have also stopped young women citizens at the airport en route to joining IS in the Middle East. Interpol is still searching for Austrian teenagers Sabina Selimovic, 15, and Samra Kesinovic, 16, who disappeared from their homes in suburban Vienna and are thought to be with IS in Syria.

Pictures purporting to be the teenagers have appeared on social media. 

While other women continue to join the regime, extreme brutality ultimately forced Khadija to leave the group.
In recent weeks, detailed UN reporting based on eyewitness accounts from inside the region have documented a litany of atrocities committed by IS militants in Syria and Iraq, including public executions, rape, abductions and lashings.
She said a particularly violent crucifixion of a 16-year-old and news that a Saudi husband had been found of her convinced her she needed to get out.
“At the start, I was happy with my job. I felt that I had authority in the streets. But then I started to get scared, scared of my situation. I even started to be afraid of myself,” she said.
“I said ‘enough’ I decided no, I have to leave”.
She slipped over the border to Turkey just days before air strikes began but chose to spoke out so others can know the truth.
“I don’t want anyone else to be duped by them. Too many girls think they are the right Islam.”