Chapters 8 and 9 Summary and Analysis
Chapter 8
Lemmon describes the complex position of the United States in supporting Syrian Kurds and, locally, the process of ratifying a democratic constitution for northeastern Syria. In joining the SDF to fight ISIS, the Americans risked alienating their NATO ally Turkey. Activists Ilham Ahmed and Fauzia Yusuf insisted that while the SDF followed Ocalan’s philosophy, it was not associated with the PKK, labeled by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group. Rather, the Democratic Union Party was a group of Syrians advocating for Syrian rights while prioritizing women’s equality in the region.
In December 2015, the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) formed as the political partner of the SDF. The council included representatives from Arabs and Kurds, but also from minority groups like Turkmen, Assyrian and Syriac Christians, and Yazidis. Ilham, co-head of the council, spoke at an early SDC meeting, highlighting the need for the Syrian civil war to end, after eleven million deaths. Among the dead were countless civilians, even children, many killed by Russian air strikes. While Arabs, Assyrians, Syriacs, and Turkmen, as well as more traditional Kurds, voiced concern that Ilham and Fauzia’s ideas for the constitution would be too progressive, the leaders refused to negotiate on their central beliefs.
American envoy Brett McGurk arrived in Syria in early 2016 following his ten years of work on the United States’s “Iraq first” policy. McGurk’s trip was well-documented on social media, causing concerns about the American–Kurdish relationship. It was clear to McGurk that Syrian Kurds wanted international recognition and a voice in post-war proceedings. During his visit, McGurk met with Ilham, Mazlum, and others to discuss the ground campaign against ISIS. Having lost nearly 700 YPG troops, the SDF did not want more young people to die in battle. In order to continue to fight, they asked the United States to agree to continue its support in the fight with ISIS. McGurk could not promise this but advised the SDF to join with Arab forces to reclaim Raqqa, the current ISIS capital in Syria.
Meanwhile, Fauzia focused on the double goals of Kurdish self-rule and women’s rights in the SDC’s constitution, despite concerns about American loyalty and local hesitancy to adopt “radical” women’s equality language in the document. Based on their own experiences, Fauzia and Ilham knew how crucial it was for women to have control over their own lives and would not temper their demands for equality. The ratification was eventually completed, as Fauzia and Ilham had already done the work of winning votes to their side through meetings and strategy sessions. The constitution formally outlawed violence against women and guaranteed full gender equality. Fauzia enjoyed the victory but also understood that since the SDC was not recognized outside the region, its work could be easily erased by the Assad regime.
Chapter 9
Rodja and her team prepared to do battle in Raqqa, first seeking to gain control of the outlying town of Tabqa and its pivotal dam. Rodja had proven herself in Kobani and commanded troops in Ain Issa in 2015. She would next command a group of 4,000 fighters in the mission to take back Raqqa. Since her first combat experience in 2012, Rodja had gained confidence and skill, and she remained motivated to fight ISIS because of their assaults on women and on Rodja’s homeland.
Lemmon relays an anecdote in which Rodja met Dalal, a young woman from Sinjar forced into sex slavery by at least ten ISIS soldiers. Rodja found renewed motivation in Dalal’s story, seeing it as her task to make ISIS pay for their abuse and oppression of...
(This entire section contains 1436 words.)
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women.
The Assad regime maintained power due to help from Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah, while a shift occurred in the United States with the election of Donald Trump. A new American administration raised questions about US support of the SDF and its arming of Kurds in the battle at Raqqa. When Obama’s and Trump’s security advisers met in late 2016, it was decided that the new president’s team would settle the dilemma when it took office.
In March 2017, the SDF began its campaign in Tabqa with the goal of possessing the town’s dam. American special ops fighter Brady Fox joined the mission in Tabqa. In 2014, unsure about the efficacy of a coed military force, Brady was quickly impressed by a female soldier’s performance on the fitness test and gained confidence in the YPG/YPJ model. Rodja led the Tabqa dam mission with Karaman, a YPG member. While their forces sought to gain the dam, other SDF fighters were transported by air to ISIS territory. It became necessary again for troops to cross the Euphrates via Zodiac boats, and Rodja’s YPJ troops completed this step more quickly and effectively than the YPG men. The SDF succeeded in cutting off a crucial path used by ISIS to transport reinforcements, but they lost fighters to snipers in the process. The SDF officially won back the city and dam on May 10.
Trump’s administration approved arming Syrian Kurds to fight in Raqqa, while still trying to convince Turkey that they remained allies. A month after the capture of Tabqa, the mission in Raqqa was set to begin, with Nowruz, Rodja, and Znarin filling commanding roles. Brady Fox returned to the US and was replaced by teammate Jason Akin, who insisted on seeing the front lines despite orders to stay out of combat. Jason quickly realized that gender did not matter when it came to military rapport in the YPG/YPJ, as long as a soldier was committed to their purpose.
The battle in Raqqa was long and difficult, as ISIS had planted explosives all over the city, dug tunnels to facilitate surprise attacks, and seemingly recruited endless troops willing to die for their cause. Despite many losses, the SDF gained a majority of Raqqa by late August. Rodja ended up on the front lines, intending to do reconnaissance, when a battle with ISIS was launched. She led her troops even though she was encouraged to return to the command center and protect herself. The site of the pivotal next battle would be an abandoned hospital still in ISIS hands.
Analysis
In alternating chapters about politics and war, respectively, Lemmon continues to pair descriptions of on-the-ground battle action with explanations of the political contexts and the mission to guarantee rights for Kurds and women in a post–civil war Syria. Chapter 8 introduces Ilham and Fauzia, two female activists instrumental to the inclusion of women’s rights language in the SDC constitution. As highly motivated as their YPG counterparts, Fauzia and Ilhma withstand hesitancy and pushback from those who see their measures as “radical.” These women are aware that the time for equality is now, not later. Fauzia knows all too well that, “around the world . . . women helped lead political revolutions only to be rendered powerless afterward.” She is determined to not let that happen in Syria, and she succeeds.
Further, Lemmon reiterates the strength of the YPJ fighters through comments made by American male soldiers. While readers witness the heroism and courage of Azeema and other YPJ fighters, the book’s celebration of YPJ is strengthened by observations like Brady’s and Jason’s in chapter 9: while Jason worried he would not have rapport with women soldiers, “he understood quickly . . . that their mentality as leaders was the same as his.” Establishing common ground between male military leaders and YPJ commanders solidifies a bond across nations and genders.
Returning to the battlefield in chapter 9, Lemmon finally profiles Rodja, the YPJ fighter readers have heard least about, as Rodja leads troops in Tabqa and Raqqa. Like Znarin in the previous chapter, Rodja has grown in confidence with experience and time, having now seen and heard air strikes and “understood what it felt like to lose a battlefield comrade she loved.” Her composure and bravery in battle are emphasized, especially when she finds herself unexpectedly on the front lines and “began leading the clashes from there,” even though commanders are not meant to do so. Lemmon also highlights Rodja’s compassion and dedication through the anecdote of her meeting with Dalal. Assuring the young women she is “safe here,” Rodja thinks of Dalal and feels “the desire to keep going until she [makes] those men pay for the crimes they had felt free to commit against Dalal, her family, and all the other women whose lives and futures they’d destroyed.” Rodja’s sense of purpose perfectly summarizes the core of the YPJ’s mission in fighting ISIS.
