Rojda Felat
| Rojda Felat | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 1980 Al-Hasakah, Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria |
| Allegiance |
 Rojava
|
| Service/branch | |
| Years of service | 2013–present |
| Rank | Top commander |
| Commands held | Northern Raqqa frontline |
| Battles/wars | |
Rojda Felat (born 1980) is a Syrian Kurdish top commander of the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who serves since 2013 in the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. A revolutionary feminist, Felat's stated goal is to achieve a 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".
As Rojda Felat has disclosed very little about her life, her biography before taking up arms is largely unknown. She is generally believed to be in her thirties, with one Syrian Kurdish news agency putting her age at 36 and her birthplace at Al-Hasakah. She joined the YPJ in 2013, and has since then risen to one of the militia's most important commanders. Felat considers herself a radical feminist, fighting for social reforms in Syria that would improve the lifes and rights for women of all ethnicities. As military leader, she is inspired by Otto von Bismarck, Napoleon, Saladin, as well as Arin Markin, a female Kurdish fighter who rather killed herself during Siege of Kobanî than being captured by ISIL.
Felat took part in several battles in Al-Hasakah Governorate, among them the Al-Shaddadi offensive, and in May 2016 led a first offensive against the de facto capital of ISIL, Raqqa, while commanding 15,000 fighters. Her forces captured 23 villages, 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. Sometime in mid 2016, an ISIL bombing at a wedding in Al-Hasakah killed 22 of her family members and relatives.
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