New doubts cast on Syrian Kurdish woman's braid removal incident

A report by the German magazine Der Spiegel has raised serious doubts over a video of a Syrian government fighter holding what was initially reported to be the mutilated braid of a Kurdish woman fighter in northern Syria.

The video went viral on social media on January 20 and featured a Syrian man, initially reported to be a government fighter, holding up a braided lock of hair which he sarcastically said was cut in Raqqa from from a "haval" - the Kurdish word for comrade.

It sparked outrage among the Kurdish community and around the world, with many women braiding their hair in solidarity with Kurdish women who fight with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and its associated Women's Protection Units (YPJ) militia.

However, Der Spiegel reported that the braid was likely to be fake, with no woman fighter actually harmed, and the resulting social media campaign misleading in nature.

The video appeared during advances by Syrian government forces against the SDF in northern and northeastern Syria, which saw them capture Raqqa and Deir al-Zor provinces and other Arab-majority areas of Syria once held by the Kurdish-led SDF.

The braid has long been a symbol for Kurdish feminism, identity and resistance, with female members of the community often braiding each other’s hair.

The video, initially posted on the Syrian man's TikTok account, was subsequently shared by Kurdish rights organisations and amplified on SDF-linked platforms.

Pro-SDF platforms used the video to accuse Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa's government of trying to eradicate Kurdish identity in Syria.

They drew comparisons between government forces and the Islamic State extremist group, which brutally rampaged through northern Syria in 2014, attacking Kurdish-majority towns and cities.

The outrage drew mass protests across the world, with Kurdish women braiding each other’s hair in a show of solidarity.

Video 'used synthetic hair'

Der Spiegel spoke to several residents who confirmed that the braid had been found on the street near the town of Tall Abyad before being brought to the restaurant where the video was recorded.

The man who made the film was identified as Rami al-Dahesh, a municipal employee allowed to carry a weapon, whose misogynistic joking in the video was intially misunderstood as a confession.

Speaking to locals, the German outlet said the braid would have likely been a synthetic hair extension.

 The director a local aid organisation denied that any woman had been murdered or harmed.

"We are a small town, besieged since 2019. There have been no Kurdish female fighters here for six years. Any assault like cutting a woman’s hair would have spread immediately — the whole town would know," he told Der Spiegel.

During the Syrian conflict, which broke out in 2011, Tall Abyad changed hands many times. It was seized by Islamic State in 2013 but was captured by Kurdish forces in 2015. In 2019, pro-Turkish Syrian militias captured it from the SDF as part of "Operation Peace Spring".

It initially had an ethnically mixed population of Arabs, Turkmen, and Kurds but many of its residents were forced to flee amid the fighting.

A week after the video was filmed, Dahesh turned himself in to Raqqa’s newly established police force in response to an arrest warrant that had been issued against him for "violating public morality".

Since the overthrow of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, misinformation videos and misleading narratives regarding Syria have circulated widely.

Recycled execution videos from IS archives, misattributed images from other Arab countries, and selectively framed clips have all been used for misinformation purposes.