AL-TAL, Syria: Some 150 Syrians on Tuesday became the first graduates of the country’s new police academy for women, as the Islamist authorities rebuild their security apparatus. Rows of new policewomen, mostly wearing hijabs below their regulation hats and berets, 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. Syria’s Islamist authorities, who overthrew longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December 2024 after nearly 14 years of conflict, have sought to break with their terrorist past and present an inclusive image and a flexible and open governance model. But several measures have raised concerns among activists and rights advocates about restrictions on personal freedoms, while some have criticized a lack of women’s participation in the country’s post-war transition. 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 Assad, women were part of the police and army, though their numbers were limited. Syria’s new military does not accept women soldiers. In the country’s northeast, former fighters with the Syrian Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) have been in talks with the interior ministry on their integration into the state security forces, but no agreement has yet been reached. The YPJ was part of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which dissolved last month as part of a January deal on integrating Syrian Kurdish forces and institutions into the state. Sarjawi said YPJ representatives attended Tuesday’s graduation ceremony and that “work is underway” on their integration.