Hundreds of former ISIS sex slaves have formed an all-female battalion to join an assault against their former abusers in northern Iraq. The battalion—the "Force of the Sun Ladies"—is made up of some 120 women who escaped ISIS captivity, and are now being trained for battle by the Kurdish Peshmerga. Another 500 are waiting for training. Cpt Khatoon Khider of the Sun Ladies told reporters: 'Whenever a war wages, our women end up as the victims. Now we are defending ourselves from the evil... We will do whatever is asked of us... Our elite force is a model for other women in the region. We want everyone to take up weapons and know how to protect themselves from the evil." The Sun Ladies are part of the Yazidi militia now preparing an offensive on ISIS-held Mosul with Peshmerga forces. The UN says ISIS still holds some 3,500 people captive in Iraq, the majority women and girls from the Yazidi community. Last month, the director of the UN human rights office in Iraq, Francesco Motta, accused ISIS of genocide, saying the jihadist group is seeking to "destroy part or the whole of the Yazidi people." (Christian Today, India Times, Feb. 11; Al Alam, Feb. 9)

The ISIS campaign of terror against women continues in the areas they control. On Feb. 11, local sources in Mosul got out the word that ISIS militants had executed four women in Mosul, after accusing them of  adultery. The four were convicted by a sharia court before being stoned to death "in front of a large crowd of people in central Mosul." The sharia court ruling made no mention of the men involved in the supposed "adultery." Said the informant: "Apparently, the victims have been raped by ISIS jihadis and then stoned to death on charges of committing adultery." (ARA News, Feb. 12)