Since the start of the conflict in Syria and Iraq until last year (2012-2016), around 44 women from Kosovo have become part of ISIS and among them there are 27 children.

These data were made public by the Kosovo Center for Security Studies (QKSS) in a report called “Women in violent extremism, lessons learned by Kosovo”.

Rudina Jakupi from this organization, says that compared to the countries of the region, Kosovo is second on the list of the participation of women in conflicts in the Middle East.

“Kosovo ranks second [in the region] because it has 44 women who have joined the conflict in Syria and Iraq. Bosnia has 60 and then follows Macedonia, Albania and Serbia”. Jakupi said.

The report says that “some of the women who have returned from the conflict remain isolated and without institutional support”.

After returning to Kosovo, some of these women, who have lost their husbands in the war, were forced to marry again.

Kosovo’s security authorities say that around 316 people are believed to have participated in the conflicts in the Middle East, while 140 people are believed to still be there.

Vese Kelmendi of QKSS says that some of the women have been forced by their husbands to join terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, but there are also several others who support ISIS’ ideology.

“We have two types of women: those who refuse to join these extremist groups and women who have joined them and then returned to Kosovo to embrace the ideas of these terrorist groups or the conflict in Syria and Iraq”, Kelmendi said.

Source: balkaneu.com