ALEPPO — The General Women’s Conference for the Support and Empowerment of Women in the Aleppo Euphrates Shield area, which is under the control of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), convened July 25 in Azaz — a city in Aleppo's northern countryside.

The conference, which gathered more than 150 Syrian women working in various service and humanitarian sectors in the area, was organized under the auspices of the Stabilization Committee, affiliated with the Free Aleppo Governorate Council. Representatives of the Syrian Interim Government were also present at the conference, which also hosted several female activists coming from the cities of Gaziantep and Kilis in Turkey.

The conference resulted in the creation of a new organization for women's political, social and economic empowerment in Syria's opposition-held areas.

Activist Nivin Hotary, a member of the women’s group affiliated with the Stabilization Committee, told Al-Monitor that the conference brought together women from all over Syria, including many displaced from areas such as Deir Ez-Zor and eastern Ghouta now living in the Euphrates Shield area.