Rojda Felat

Rojda Felat (born c. 1977 or 1980) is a Syrian Kurdish senior commander of the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who has fought in the Rojava conflict since it began in 2012, and has led several major campaigns against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). A revolutionary feminist, Felat's stated goal is to achieve social transformation in the Middle East through the YPJ, "liberating the Kurdish woman and the Syrian woman in general from the ties and control of traditional society, as well as liberating the entirety of Syria from terrorism and tyranny".

Biography Early life As Rojda Felat has disclosed relatively little about her life, her biography before taking up arms is largely unknown; According to an interview she gave The New Yorker in late 2017, Felat was born around 1977 as the child of a poor farming family near Qamishli. putting her birthdate at 1980 and/or her birthplace at al-Hasakah. Many reports by other media agencies have repeated the information of Jihan News, while others claim that Felat was born in 1962, 1966 or 1968, with one media agency even saying that she is from Batman in Turkey. This last claim was denied by a close associate of her, who told T-Online that she was definitely a Syrian Kurd. though in the end the offensive stalled, as the SDF redeployed its fighters for the more successful Manbij offensive, in which Felat also took part. These were targeted in the course of the offensive's second phase, which commenced on 10 December and during which Felat served as leading commander for the YPJ units involved. In the subsequent phases during the campaign to capture Raqqa, Felat continued to serve as one of the most important YPJ commanders, In October 2017, Felat commanded a contingent of SDF fighters who successfully captured Raqqa. Felat and others were pictured waving SDF flags in the former Islamic State capital city's iconic al-Naim square after SDF forces declared victory in the Battle of Raqqa.

In early October 2019, Felat took part in a conference in Rome, declaring that the war against ISIL was continuing while stressing the importance of democratic confederalism.

Personal life Felat is a strong adherent of the YPG/YPJ. She has decided to never marry or have children, and instead intends to serve in the military for the rest of her life. Among her personal heroes are the Polish-German radical Communist Rosa Luxemburg, Felat is also critical of capitalism, saying that "the capitalist system views us [women in general] as objects".

Felat comes from a poor farming family,