ISIL now urging women to fight

• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is increasingly urging women to fight in its battles, in a significant ideological move that highlights the group’s desperate bid to boost its ranks.

Women had not previously participated in ISIL’s armed struggle, with the exception of an all-female brigade responsible for policing women and girls in their Syrian stronghold of Raqqa. But with the jihadists losing large numbers of militants in the fight for Raqqa and Mosul in Iraq, the group has begun to adjust its narrative to appeal to female fighters, according to analysis by IHS Markit, a U.K.-based defence consultancy.

The first approved use of women in battle was thought to have been at the end of the Mosul offensive, where ISIL put up a fierce defence for what had been the largest and most strategic territory under its control.

One c a pt ured j i hadi bride, Linda Wenzel, a German teenager, was believed to have been trained as a sniper to target Iraqi troops. Officials told The Daily Telegraph they arrested at least a dozen more foreign women they believed had been ordered to attack them.

In the final days of the operation, more than 40 women are believed to have carried out suicide attacks against the army in Mosul’s Old City, with the explosions claiming the lives of their own children in the process.

AHEAD OF US AWAIT TIMES OF INTENSE TRIALS AND ... HARDSHIPS.

“Despite ISIL’s claims to the contrary, urging women to seek an active role in combat is most likely an attempt to reduce the impact of severe manpower shortages caused by the decimation of male fighters, and a recruitment crisis,” said Ludovico Carlino, a senior analyst at IHS Markit.

“It is as yet unclear whether the spike in female suicide bombings is simply a result of the final pockets of ISIL resistance or women compelled by the group to execute those attacks, or whether it represents the beginning of a wider trend of female fighters willing to take part in the group’s battles.”

Meanwhile, the latest edition of Rumiyah, ISIL’s online magazine, indicated a change in the message surrounding the role of women. In an article entitled Our Journey to Allah, the author emphasizes that the role of women is of increased importance, as “ahead of us await times of intense trials and extreme hardships, and times of severe battles”.

Rumiyah’s call is primarily directed at a Western audience, likely the wives and widows of foreign fighters still living in the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate.