First cohort of Syrian policewomen graduate from new academy

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