- The first cohort of 150 Syrian policewomen graduated from a new police academy in Al-Tal
- Graduates received extensive training in physical fitness and military skills during a six-month course
AL-TAL: Some 150 Syrians on Tuesday became the first graduates of the country’s new police academy for women, as the interim government rebuilds the war-weary country's security apparatus.
Rows of new policewomen lined up holding weapons for the ceremony, before they joyfully embraced their families.
Brig. General Huda Sarjawi, director of the Women’s Police Institute in Al-Tal north of Damascus, told AFP the graduation marked the first cohort of policewomen in a “new Syria.”
“The participation of women in the security sector is a social necessity, and also supports the participation of women in all fields,” she said, adding that the graduates had received physical and military training as well as instruction on topics including law and human rights.
Interior Minister Anas Khattab, who attended the ceremony, said on X that the graduation “reflects the presence of Syrian women and their contribution to serving the nation and society.”
New graduate May Aklajneh, 22, said she had been studying at university but “when they opened up this opportunity to enlist, I wanted to join,” adding that “becoming a policewoman was my childhood dream.”
Alaa Qassem Wafaa, 23, also a former student, told AFP that “at the start it was hard” but she hoped to go further, saying that “there’s an officer’s course that I want to join.”
Authorities inaugurated the academy in March, and the women, who undertook around six months of training, are to be part of the interior ministry forces across the country.
Under the rule of now-deposed President Bashar Assad, women were part of the police and army, though their numbers were limited.
