ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish women around the world are flooding social media with videos of themselves braiding their hair in a symbolic act of protest. The campaign responds to disturbing footage showing a Damascus-affiliated militant boasting about cutting off the braid of a Kurdish female fighter after her death and parading it as a war trophy.
In the controversial video, the militant is seen entering a shop, smirking, and holding up the braid, saying, “This is the hair of a haval” - Kurdish for comrade.
“Why did you cut her hair?” asks the other militant filming the scene, his tone dripping with sarcasm. The first replies, “She was already dead.”
Some sources have identified the militant as Syrian-born Rami al-Dahash, who is allegedly based in the Kurdish-majority city of Sanliurfa in southeastern Turkey. However, Rudaw was unable to independently verify this claim.
A member of Damascus-affiliated armed factions appears in a video holding a strand of hair belonging to a Kurdish female fighter from the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ). According to the militant, the female fighter was killed during clashes in Raqqa. pic.twitter.com/HyG3JmOLuz
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) January 21, 2026
The militant’s act has sparked a social media storm, with Kurdish women around the world braiding their hair in protest and to honor the fallen fighter.
Kurdish affairs analyst Mutlu Civiroglu shared the controversial video, urging the “women of the world” to witness “this brutality: a a fighter affiliated with Damascus‑aligned armed factions holding up cut braids he claims belonged to a Kurdish female fighter, mockingly referring to her as a ‘comrade’ and presenting them as a ‘gift!”
A Kurdish social media user in Rojava, Abu Riah, posted a video of female fighters braiding each other’s hair, writing, “The martyr whose braided hair you cut has tens of thousands of comrades. Women with braided hair will once again bury you and the ISIS mentality.”
Kurdish researcher Renas Babakir highlighted the cultural significance of the gesture, stating, “The braid holds deep cultural meanings in Kurdish tradition and history,” elaborating that “in recent history, it has become a symbol of female power and resistance to oppression and the very ideologies that are now the foundations of new Syria under [Abu Mohammed] al-Jolani.”
Jolani is the nom de guerre of Sharaa, who led the now-dissolved Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an organization that originated as an al-Qaeda offshoot.
The latest video is not the first to document violations by Damascus-affiliated militants against Kurdish women in recent days.
Earlier footage that went viral on Wednesday showed two female Kurdish fighters, identified as Amara Intigham and Narin Akhi, captured from northeast Syria (Rojava) by Damascus-affiliated militants.
In the video, one fighter films himself addressing another militant, identified as “Abu Mujahid,” and says he has brought him “the nicest gifts,” referring to the two captives.
Fighters affiliated with Syria’s jihadist-led army have released new footage showing two female Kurdish fighters captured during recent clashes. pic.twitter.com/FZyWhJdozB
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) January 21, 2026
Prior to that, on Monday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) released footage they said documents the decapitation of their fighters, including two women, and the desecration of their bodies by Damascus-affiliated militants.
These latest violations have occurred amid the military operations by the Syrian Arab Army and allied armed groups against the SDF in Kurdish-held areas of eastern Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and the Kurdish-majority Hasaka province.
Earlier this month, during their seizure of the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood in northern Aleppo, many other violations were recorded including an instance when militants threw the body of a female Kurdish fighter off a building while hurling insults.
Earlier this month, during the seizure of the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood in northern Aleppo, additional violations were documented, including a gruesome incident which sparked worldwide outrage after militants threw the body of a female Kurdish fighter off a building after executing her, while hurling insults.
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