Denis Sipan left her school in the Syrian part of Kurdistan five months ago to join the a rebel enclave of the Kurdish People's Protection Units(YPG) as a sniper.

The Kurdish forces made fresh advances yesterday near Kobane, where ISIS surrendered last week, bringing the number of recaptured villages to 50, 

'If we didn't do it, the whole place will be full of ISIS, and they'll destroy everything,' Denis Sipan told CBS News.

When asked what it would take for her to give up fighting and go back to teaching, Ms Sipan replied:  'I don't think that's going to happen.

'I need to protect myself, my friends, my people, and my country.'

She also revealed that although the YPG and rebel groups are making advances against ISIS, they are woefully under-equipped and she is forced to share her rifle with another sniper.

Ms Sipan fights alongside local volunteers, a group made up of wheat-farmers, housewives and shop owners, using weapons they have bought on the black market. 

Last night, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the YPG, backed by rebel fighters such as Ms Sipan, 'are continuing to advance in the countryside of Kobane, facing no resistance from the ISIS'.

'As soon as the YPG enters into a village, the IS withdraws its fighters,' Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

After nearly five months of fighting for Kobane, which is strategically located in Kurdish Syria on the border to Tyrkey, the YPG recaptured the town last Monday.

Battles then broke out for the 350 villages surrounding the town, out of which 50 have been reclaimed by the Kurdish forces 

(dailymail.co.uk)