Female Jihadi fighters from the United Kingdom have taken an active role in recruiting supporters and encouraging terrorism, reported The Guardian on Saturday. The report was cited by Israel Hayom.
Researchers at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King’s College London monitored the social media accounts of roughly 30 of the 70 women known to be fighting for the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria.
The probe uncovered that the women were drumming up support, encouraging terror attacks abroad, and praising recent attacks such as the shooting spree in Paris which killed 12 at the Charlie Hebdo satirical publication and another four at a kosher supermarket.
Melanie Smith, a researcher at ICSR, explained that until now, it was thought women were confined by ISIS to traditional roles, such as cooking and housekeeping. ISIS requires women to wear the niqab, traditional Arab garb which covers them completely, denies females education and otherwise suppresses their rights. This probe revealed a different situation.
“British women tend to incite [attacks], they say to people that can’t move to the Islamic State: ‘Why not carry out something at home?’ That’s a common message: if you can’t leave your family behind or afford to move to Syria then carry out something,” Smith told the Guardian.
“I don’t think anyone talks about women returning as a risk. While they might not have the same military training, you can see women online being frustrated about the fact they can’t fight and they suggest to each other that they could do something else. Women historically have been used in suicide bombings and singular operations,” she added.
The mistreatment of women by ISIS has been widely publicized, including the execution of women for infidelity and the abduction and sale of Yazidi women as sex slaves.