Syria woman becomes first elected head of local opposition council

A candidate in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo has become the first woman to be elected as head of a local council in a opposition area of the country.

Iman Hashim won the poll on Monday, the Local Council of Aleppo City an online statement said.

Syrian news website Zaman al-Wasl reported that the 38-year-old is the first woman to have been voted to run a local council since the start of the bloody conflict in 2011.

"I have reached this position because of my faith in my passion and my pursuit of the principles of the revolution," Hashim told the pro-opposition outlet.

"This will get rid of the doubts women have in themselves and show that we are able to take part in decision-making."

Hashim, a teacher by profession, has set up a school in rebel-held western Aleppo after she was forced to flee Aleppo city by regime forces.

Syria's opposition council - the Syrian National Coalition -voted in 2016 to increase the number of women on its general assembly by no less than 15 percent.