Outrage Grows After Brutal Syria War Video Surfaces

A deeply disturbing video has surfaced online showing a militant affiliated with Damascus-backed forces holding a strand of hair he claims belongs to a killed female fighter from the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ).

In the clip, the fighter mocks the dead woman, using the respectful Kurdish term “Haval” (comrade) sarcastically while joking that “only the hair remains safe,” an act that has sparked widespread condemnation as a blatant war crime and an appalling display of inhumanity.

The YPJ is part of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which served as the primary ground partner for the U.S.-led Global Coalition and played a pivotal role in the territorial defeat of the terrorist Islamic State (IS) group in Syria in 2019.

This incident was seen as a depiction of the brutal nature of the ongoing conflict in northeastern Syria, where the very forces that were instrumental in combating IS now face atrocities from armed groups affiliated to Syria’s new rulers, even after Syria’s formal inclusion in the anti-IS coalition in late 2025.