Islamic State women sentries make limited return in Tal Afar

Women members of the Islamic State sentry teams have made a limited return to some areas of the group’s stronghold town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, a local source in Nineveh province said Wednesday.

The source told Alsumaria News that the face-veiled women were deployed around areas where foreign militants and their families reside, adding that those are in charge of searching women entering those areas.

Those women are all foreigners, and were deployed by foreign IS leaders to secure their families from possible assaults by their local power rivals as divisions grow among the group’s ranks.

IS had previously formed female squads in its vigilante teams, observing locals’ commitment to the group’s extreme religious rules.

Islamic State has held Tal Afar since 2014, when it took over a third of Iraq and Syria to establish a self-styled “caliphate”. Iraqi troops declared victory earlier this month over IS in Mosul, after more than eight months of battles to retake the city.

Tal Afar, according to statements by Iraqi government and military officials, will be the next target of military operations. So far, operations by pro-government paramilitary troops have recaptured villages surrounding the town and isolated it from the Syrian borders and the rest of the province.

Source: Iraqi News