Brave Kurdish soldiers battling Islamic State militants in northern Syria have converted tractors and lorries into tanks by adding metal plates to create Mad Max-style road warriors.

The peshmerga troops were forced to take the initiative and create their own armoured vehicles after the far better equipped ISIS jihadists repeatedly got the better of the Kurds' Soviet-era military fleet.

In recent weeks hundreds of thousands of Syrian Kurds have been forced to flee across the border into Turkey, as ISIS launched an onslaught into the autonomous Kurdish territory in northern Syria.

Despite the odds being against them, peshmerga forces have bravely fought back against the estimated 31,000 ISIS militants operating in Syria and Iraq - whose self-declared 'caliphate' forms an area larger than Britain with a population of four million brutally oppressed citizens.

Scroll down for video

Homemade: Kurdish forces have converted tractors, farm vehicles and lorries into makeshift tanks in order to compete with the considerably better-equipped ISIS militants ravaging northern Syria

Elaborate design: Troops from the People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria previously had little more than rifles and flak jackets - making them incredibly vulnerable in the face of heavily-armed ISIS terrorists

Design: The Kurdish forces have used their homemade armoured vehicles - which are bright and elaborately decorated - to keep ISIS advances in check, and in some cases even force them to retreat

Flying the flag: Despite the odds being against them, peshmerga forces have bravely fought back against the estimated 31,000 ISIS militants operating in Syria and Iraq

Strong resemblance: The converted Kurdish vehicles look similar to the heavily-armoured lorries in the 1979 dystopian action film Mad Max (pictured)

In order to resist ISIS' high-tech firepower, the Kurdish forces have converted tractors and other farm equipment into heavily-armoured vehicles fitted aging Soviet-era guns.

Previously troops from the People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria had little more than rifles and flak jackets - making them incredibly vulnerable in the face of heavily-armed ISIS terrorists.

Much of the weaponry and military equipment currently in the hands of the jihadists was gathered after thousands of members of the U.S. trained and expensively equipped Iraqi army melted away in the face of a lightning advance by just a few hundred ISIS militants in June.

As the soldiers fled the scene, they left behind millions of pounds worth of top-of-the-range and barely used equipment - all of which was quickly swept up by ISIS.

Since then the Kurdish peshmerga forces have carried out the defence of much of northern Syria and Iraq, despite the fact many of the militants only know how to operate clunky, decades-old Soviet-era weapons and are hugely under-resourced in terms of ammunition and protective equipment.

Innovative: The peshmerga troops were forced to take the initiative and create their own armoured vehicles after the far better equipped ISIS jihadists repeatedly got the better of the Kurds' Soviet-era military fleet

Homemade: In order to resist ISIS' high-tech firepower, the Kurdish forces have converted tractors and other farm equipment into heavily-armoured vehicles fitted aging Soviet-era guns

Protection: An off-road vehicle is seen covered in bullet-proof metal, making it much harder for ISIS to destroy

Force: One place in which the vehicles have been deployed is Kobane - the small Syrian town that has been besieged by ISIS militants for a week

Brave: Kurdish peshmerga forces have carried out the defence of much of northern Syria and Iraq, despite the fact many of the militants only know how to operate clunky, decades-old Soviet-era weapons and are hugely under-resourced in terms of ammunition and protective equipment

Tough: A peshmerga soldier poses with one of the converted farm vehicles being used in the fight against ISIS

U.S-LED RAIDS 'HIT GRAIN SILOS IN SYRIA, KILLING WORKERS' U.S.-led air strikes hit grain silos and other targets in Islamic State-controlled territory in northern and eastern Syria overnight, killing civilians and wounding militants, a group monitoring the war said today. The aircraft may have mistaken the mills and grain storage areas in the northern Syrian town of Manbij for an Islamic State base, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. There was no immediate comment from Washington. The United States has targeted Islamic State and other fighters in Syria since last week with the help of Arab allies, and in Iraq since last month. It aims to damage and destroy the bases, forces and supply lines of the al Qaeda offshoot which has captured large areas of both countries. The strikes in Manbij appeared to have killed only civilians, not fighters, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory which gathers information from sources in Syria. Advertisement

The Kurdish forces have used their homemade armoured vehicles - which are bright and elaborately decorated - to keep ISIS advances in check, and in some cases even force them to retreat.

One place in which the vehicles have been deployed is Kobane - the small Syrian town that has been besieged by ISIS militants for a week.

The Kurdish fighters in Iraq said that although they had been promised equipment from the U.S. and European countries, but so far most of the shipments included food - something they need far less urgently than weapons.

Last week, one Kobane resident told the Independent: 'Don't send us food, we don't need food...we will eat mud if we have to. Send us weapons, send us peshmerga.'

But while they continue waiting for the Western weapons to materialise, the Kurdish forces are reliant more than ever on their makeshift armoured vehicles to protect their population from the murderous fanatics who pose such a threat to their existence.

In recent weeks hundreds of thousands of Syrian Kurds have been forced to flee across the border into Turkey, as Isis launched an onslaught into the autonomous Kurdish territory in northern Syria.

Hard to destroy: Kurdish troops were forced to take the initiative and create their own armoured vehicles. They hope to stop the advance of ISIS militants, who are armed with high-tech weapons captured from the Iraqi army

Defence: While they wait for Western weapons to materialise, the peshmerga forces are more reliant than ever on their makeshift armoured vehicles to protect the Kurdish population from murderous ISIS fanatics

Bulk: The Kurdish fighters in Iraq said they had been promised equipment from the U.S. and European countries

Power: Brave Kurdish soldiers battling Islamic State militants in northern Syria have converted tractors and lorries into tanks by adding metal plates to create Mad Max-style road warriors