ISIS Wives and Enforcers in Syria Recount Collaboration, Anguish and Escape

When terrorists storm a town and take control, some occupants resist, others collaborate, and most inevitably try to flee. Three young women describe life in Raqqa – a Syrian city of 220,000 – under the control of the Islamic State since early 2014. The three once wore casual clothes, worked or attended school, dated as they pleased and led independent lives, reports Azadeh Moaveni for the New York Times: “None of them subscribed to its extreme ideology, and even after fleeing their homes and going into hiding, they still struggle to explain how they changed from modern young women into Islamic State morality enforcers. In the moment, each choice seemed like the right one, a way to keep life tolerable: marrying fighters to assuage the Organization and keep their families in favor; joining the Khansaa Brigade to win some freedom of movement and an income in a city where women had been stripped of self-determination.” After husbands died in battles or suicide missions, authorities expect women to remarry another foreign jihadist quickly. Foreign women received special privileges. The three eventually escaped to Turkey but not the shame of joining a brigade that patrolled streets, intimidating neighbors, in a network of fear and resentment. – YaleGlobal