One year after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was brought to power in Damascus in December 2024, Syria has been marked by grave human rights violations, particularly against women. Independent sources report a sharp rise in killings, abductions, psychological and physical violence, as well as sectarian attacks targeting women in areas under HTS control and in regions under occupation by the Turkish state. According to these reports, hundreds of women, including children, have so far been killed or abducted.
At least 650 women, including 29 children, have been documented as killed to date. This pattern, concentrated in numerous cities from Aleppo to Damascus, and from Latakia to Sweida (Suwayda), lays bare the practices of HTS’s radical Islamist ideology that directly target women and reveals that the newly established administration in the country is effectively based on Sharia law. The highest number of cases has been recorded in Aleppo, Damascus, Homs, Hama, the Damascus countryside, Daraa, Tartus, Quneitra, Latakia, Sweida, and Deir ez-Zor (Dêrazor) under HTS control.
While women in Rojava continue to lead relatively safer lives thanks to their self-defense awareness and strong organization, the HTS mentality openly disregards women’s rights.
Journalist Stêrk Gulo, who has worked for many years in Syria and Northern and Eastern Syria, spoke to the ANF about the situation of women across the country in the first year of HTS rule.
Gulo said: “As we enter 2026, it is clear that the collapse of the Baath regime and the process that brought Ahmed al-Sharaa (al-Jolani) to Damascus took place within the framework of certain alliances,” and stressed that HTS’s rise to power cannot be explained solely by internal dynamics. She recalled that al-Jolani was declared head of the transitional administration in January 2025 and continued: “The HTS led by al-Jolani remained on international terrorism lists for a long time. How and why did HTS come to power? This is not an issue limited to Syria alone. During the Baath regime’s 62 years in power, sectarian conflicts of this scale were not experienced. Yet with HTS’s entry into Damascus, many things have changed. While several states in the region, such as Lebanon and Iraq, are burdened by the heavy cost of sectarian wars, Damascus has now been turned into a similar place.”
Gulo said that the mindset prevailing among HTS-affiliated groups is not limited to sectarianism alone but also reflects a centralized structure that does not rely on the legal foundations of a state system. Gulo said, “Immediately after this process, large-scale massacres took place, with women and children as the primary targets. In Homs, Hama and Latakia, Alawites were attacked, while in Sweida, Druze communities were targeted. Women and children were killed in these attacks. Even today, the fate of dozens of Alawite women remains unknown. Although many media outlets and human rights organizations are trying to reveal the scale of these massacres, it is still not possible to access clear and reliable data.”
The landscape of Damascus, the Turkish state, and the Autonomous Administration in Syria
Stêrk Gulo said that three distinct realities have emerged across Syria when the data on violence against women are examined.
Gulo said: “First are the areas under HTS control: Damascus, Homs, Hama, Latakia, and parts of Aleppo. Data coming from these areas show a serious increase in the killing and abduction of women and children. Second are the regions under occupation by the Turkish state: Afrin (Efrîn), Azaz, Idlib, Tell Abyad (Girê Spî), Ras al-Ayn (Serêkaniyê), and Jarabulus. In these areas as well, the number of women who have been killed, tortured, or abducted is almost at the same level as in HTS-controlled regions.”
Gulo added: “The third reality is Northern and Eastern Syria. In the region administered by the Autonomous Administration, we do not see femicides or mass killings of women. This comparison clearly shows that the practices directed against women in areas controlled by HTS and the Turkish state openly violate both human rights and women’s rights.” Gulo also highlighted the relative security and stability in Northern and Eastern Syria.
No women in power, killers in government
Gulo recalled that in Damascus under HTS rule, individuals responsible for killing women are part of the administration and said: “HTS tried to proclaim a constitution through armed groups that had previously been placed on terrorism lists. One of them was Hakim Shekra, who is responsible for the killing of Hevrin Khalaf and whose prosecution has been demanded before international courts. When we look at the images of the assembly they sought to establish, we see that the structure is composed entirely of men. This created a major public debate. In the 21st century, a system of governance that completely excludes women is incompatible with Syria’s social fabric. Syria is a country where many peoples, sects, and cultures live together, and where women hold a strong place in social life.”
At this point, Gulo pointed to the deep impact created across Syria by the organization women have built over 13 years through the Rojava Revolution in Northern and Eastern Syria and said: “When attacks against Alawite and Druze women began in the coastal cities and in Sweida, women in those regions also felt the need to defend themselves. This once again showed how powerful a source of inspiration Northern and Eastern Syria is.
Because the establishment of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) and the independent and distinctive organization of women constitute a unique experience in the world. Women organized at squad and platoon levels within the military hierarchy and formed command structures. Arîn Mîrkan’s self-sacrificial stance against ISIS during the Kobanê resistance proved to the entire world that women can defeat this dark force. When massacres against women began in the coastal cities and in Sweida, the turn of Alawite and Druze women toward self-defense was a direct result of this inspiration.”
Gulo stressed that, regardless of background, every woman essentially assumes a pioneering role and makes sacrifices and said: “In the coastal region, as in Northern and Eastern Syria, there were many women who stood out for their courage. One mother, whose children were killed before her eyes yet who cried out ‘Feşer’ (‘Get lost’), became known as the plane tree of the coast. This woman has become a symbol of the resistance of Alawite and Druze women against the mercenary mentality that seeks to dominate all of Syria today. Her stance, together with many examples of women that emerged during the Tishrin Dam resistance in 2025, formed the historical memory of this struggle.
One of the other examples of this resistance was Kerem Ehmed El Shihab El Hemed, a leader of the Zenubiya Women’s Community. As women from Raqqa moved toward the Tishrin Dam and resisted attacks by the Turkish state, Kerem Shihabi was killed in a drone strike carried out by the Turkish state while she was reading a press statement, in full view of the world. In this way, Kerem Shihabi became a powerful symbol of resistance for all women, especially Arab women.
The Tishrin resistance brought together hundreds of Arab, Kurdish, Christian, and Syriac women along the same line through the spirit of the revolutionary people’s war. Women protected the dam to defend their lives and their children. At the same time as HTS entered Damascus, attacks by the Turkish state also intensified. For this reason, 2025 became the year shaped by the spirit of the Tishrin Dam resistance, a spirit that continues to have an impact today. This spirit united women in Northern and Eastern Syria and across Syria along a common line of resistance. This example of struggle developed through the revolutionary people’s war.
As in the earlier Sheikh Maqsoud (Şêxmeqsûd) and Ashrafiyeh (Eşrefiyê) resistances, women once again took their place on the front lines at the Tishrin Dam. Children, the elderly, and women moved together toward the dam, demonstrating a stance of defending Syrian land. During this process, the previously organized YPJ forces became one of the most important pillars of the resistance.”
Women win when they struggle
Journalist Stêrk Gulo said that in the struggle against both ISIS and the Turkish occupation, the YPJ made women’s resistance organized and effective, enabling women to deeply feel the need for self-defense.
Gulo said: “Why? Because the record of massacres and abductions targeting women clearly showed how devastating the consequences of defenselessness can be.” She drew attention to what Yazidi women experienced in the face of ISIS attacks as one of the most painful examples of such defenselessness.
For this reason, in a geography like the Middle East, where deep wars are taking place, the organization of women has become a vital necessity. Only in this way can a system of law that protects women and a free life be built. On this basis, many women’s movements in Northern and Eastern Syria rejected the system imposed by HTS and took a stance against it.”
Gulo referred to the jihadist and women-hostile mindset of HTS and said that the laws declared by HTS do not recognize women’s rights and even deny a mother’s guardianship over her child. She said: “This approach contradicts all international conventions on women’s rights. How can a democratic Syria be built with a mentality that rejects and refuses women’s rights to this extent? For a democratic Syria to be built today, all active and dynamic forces capable of carrying out this revolution must take part in this struggle. This is extremely important.”
Gulo stated that women are also resisting the prevailing mentality in areas under occupation by the Turkish state and said: “As we have seen many times, in most of these regions women revolt against this system and show resistance. Whether in prisons or against the torture they are exposed to every day, women resist. We want the whole world to hear this: today, in no place where women are not organized can women stand. We have seen the strongest examples of this in Northern and Eastern Syria.
Today, Armenian, Assyrian, Syriac, Kurdish, and Arab women have their own organizations, and these structures act together as a unified whole. When defense is at stake, women from many different components within the ranks of the YPJ become a single force. For this reason, it can be said that one of HTS’s targets is to break this unity.”
Gulo referred to the March 10 agreement and the alliances formed afterward and said that women played a decisive role in these processes and that a key question had been raised about how HTS would receive the women who took part in the delegations. Gulo said: “However, it was seen that when the signatures were placed in Aleppo on April 1, the first signature belonged to a woman. This was an important step taken against the existing mentality; a threshold was crossed. At the same time, women were also in leading positions within the negotiation delegation that went to Damascus.
For Syria to be inclusive, it must have a pluralistic and democratic structure. Insisting on a male-dominated mentality means repeating the mistakes made by the Baath regime. Sectarian division and the exclusion of women fragment society. The Baath regime tried this and failed. When women take the lead, society follows them.”