Middle East News

Female Kurdish Fighter Rehana Reportedly Beheaded By ISIS

Reports have surfaced that the female sharpshooter Rehana, who was rumored to have personally killed more than 100 ISIS militants, died along with several other female fighters in an ISIS assault on Kobani.

ISIS militants claim they killed the poster girl of the Kurdish resistance movement. As proof, they shared a photo of a jihadist holding the severed head of a woman they claim is the sharpshooter known by the pseudonym Rehana, New York Daily News reported.

Conflicting reports have emerged, however. Kurdish fighters and supporters claim Rehana is still alive, and the image is merely photoshopped ISIS propaganda.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”– Pawan Durani” author_title=”Kurdish Journalist”]

‘Rehana’ is very much alive. #ISIS supporters just trying to lift morale. Let #ISIS produce even a single picture of Rehana. Propaganda and falsehood runs in their blood. Rehana keeps hunting them.

[/quote]

Syrian Kurdish journalist Rashad Abdel Qader tweeted that he spoke to Rehana and she is alive.

Rehana became the poster girl for the movement after a photo of her making a peace sign was retweeted more than 5,000 times on Twitter.

The female Kurdish fighters have become an important part of the resistance movement. Women fighting with the Syrian Kurdish YPJ (Women’s Defense Unit), to which Rehana belongs, as well as the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga militias have garnered much attention as they wage war against Islamic State militants. Estimates suggest almost 35% of people fighting ISIS in the Kobani area are women, the Daily Record reported.

The resistance fighters in the region were recently aided by coalition air support and US arms drops. More than 800 people have been killed in Kobani since Islamic State militants launched an attack on September 16. Jihadists have lost 481 people while 313 Kurds have been killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. This figure does not include ISIS losses due to US-led airstrikes, which are estimated in the hundreds by the Pentagon.

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