Rehana-- The Angel Of Kobani

A hysteric sharing and glorifying the image of the "Angel Of Kobani" or "Rehana" on social media around the world has launched the girl into media space. She is Kurdish who has become a symbol of resistance against Islamic State. According to the stories rounding around she has slain 100 Islamic State Fighters. There is only one hitch- she is probably not what people she is. The town Kobani in northern Syria is still struggling to repeal off the attacks of Islamic State Mujahids. Kurdish fighters there, backed by airstrikes from international coalition are battling with Islamic State, but it is hard to get news or images from Kobani due to limited access for journalists. Rehana's image as "Angel Of Kobani" has come to symbolise the female fighters pitted against Islamic State and its Mujahids.

But where does actually te image come from? In fact the woman now known as 'Rehana' was photographed at an event in kobani on August 22, months before her image began trending. She was at a ceremony for volunteers and was wearing a military style uniform. The Swedish journalist carl Drott was the only journalist in Kobani at the time and had short exchange with her before the ceremony. He says she was not a front line fighter at all, volunteering instead with the home guard or police force of Kobani. He says it is therefore unlikely that she had killed so many enemies. The following day the image was posted on the blog "Bijikurdistan" which supports the Kurdish effort in Kobani. It then seems to have largely gone unnoticed, until it was shared over Twitter a month later by an English-language news outlet based in the Kurdish region; Slemani Times. That is when the stories and mystery around her began building up on social media. On October 5, rumours of her death began trending. An influential Saudi Twitter user known @alfaisal- ragard posted an image of her 200,000 followers saying that a Kurdish woman was beheaded by an IS fighter. On October 10, a Twitter user @Kurdistan-Army was among those sharing the image of beheading besides the photo of the woman who would come to be known as 'Rehana', smiling for the camera. The rumopurs ans speculations continued and how the story arounf "Angel Of Kobani" develops is still to be seen.