The Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) in Syria is both widening its operations to include Arab women who want to join the fight against Isis and stepping up its military assault on the extremists’ de facto capital of Raqqa in 2017, a spokesperson has said.

“As the women of the YPJ, we aim not only liberation from Isis but also a liberation of mentality and thoughts," the YPJ’s spokesperson Nesrin Abdullah announced.

“War is not only the liberation of land. We are also fighting for the liberation of women and men. If not, the patriarchal system will prevail once again,” she said in an wide-ranging interview with the Amsterdam-based Kurdish news agency Firat.

The mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters began a US-backed operation to retake the northern Syrian city of Raqqa in November, timed to dovetail with the assault on Isis’ other remaining urban stronghold of Mosul in neighbouring Iraq.

2016 saw women’s participation in the fight greatly expand, Ms Abdullah said, with the formation of several new military councils designed to encourage the participation of freed Arab and Yazidi women across both Syria and Iraq.

In Manbij in particular, female residents were so inspired by the female YPJ soldiers who helped liberate them they have created their own all-female battalion to retake the neighbouring town of al-Bab.

Two units have now completed training for battle inside the umbrella Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) coalition, Ms Abdullah said, and both a military training academy and college-style institution were being set up for 2017.

“Arab people were the predominant residents of the liberated areas. They were impressed when they saw that women participated in military affairs and played a leading role in clashes. This had important consequences…. From Shaddadi to Manbij, many women have joined us,” she said.

Syrian women burn burkas to celebrate liberation from Isis

The YPJ gained a lot of battlefield experience in 2016, Ms Abdullah added, which is being transformed into an “academic consciousness.”

The training women receive covers many fields, including feminist history and philosophy.

“This is because the YPJ is not a brute fighting force but a force of social, cultural and moral consciousness. Women who realise themselves wage this struggle,” the spokesperson said..

The results give women confidence, empowering them to make their own decisions and take an “active, mobilised, intellectual role” in the fight against Isis without relying on men, she added.

In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani An explosion rocks Syrian city of Kobani during a reported suicide car bomb attack by the militants of Isis group on a People's Protection Unit (YPG) position in the city center of Kobani, as seen from the outskirts of Suruc, on the Turkey-Syria border In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani An explosion rocks the Syrian city of Kobani during a reported suicide car bomb attack by Isis Getty In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani An explosion in the Syrian city of Kobani set off as fighting continues Getty Images In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Heavy smoke rises following an air strike by the US-led coalition aircraft in Kobani Getty Images In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani An unidentified armed man takes position near a building in the Syrian town of Kobani, as seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Kurdish fighters walk to their positions in Kobani In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Residents of Kobani walk in the streets of the besieged town, as seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani People's Protection Unit (YPG) fighters walk in the Syrian town of Kobani, as seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani People watch the Syrian town of Kobani from near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani A Turkish soldier stands on a top of a tank as he watches the Syrian town of Kobani from near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani, seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc. Kurdish forces defending Kobani urged a U.S.-led coalition to escalate air strikes on Isis fighters who tightened their grip on the Syrian town at the border with Turkey. A group that monitors the Syrian civil war said the Kurdish forces faced inevitable defeat in Kobani if Turkey did not open its border to let through arms, something Ankara has appeared reluctant to do In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Newly arrived People's Protection Unit (YPG) fighters walk in a line in the Syrian town of Kobani, seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Heavy smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani, seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Kurdish women mourn at the grave of a relative, who was a Kurdish fighter killed in fighting with the militants of the Islamic State group in Kobani, and was buried at a cemetery in Suruc In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Turkish army tanks mechanized units take position on top of a hill near Mursitpinar border crossing in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Smoke rises after an US-led air strike in the Syrian town of Kobani. The air strikes pushed Isis fighters back to the edges of the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani, which they had appeared set to seize after a three-week assault, local officials said In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani A huge plume of smoke rises after an airstrike in eastern Kobani, Syria, behind a hilltop where militants with the Islamic State group had raised their flag on Monday AP In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Turkish Kurds watch as airstrikes hit Kobani AP In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani as Turkish army tanks take position on the Turkish side of the border Reuters In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Military aircraft flies over the Turkey-Syria border as it nears targets in Kobani In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Smoke rises after a US-led air strike in the Syrian town of Kobani Reuters In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Turkish Kurds, on the Turkey-Syria border, watch over the border at the intensified fighting between Isis and Kurdish forces AP In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Smoke rises during airstrikes on the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobani by the Kurds Getty In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani A huge plume of smoke rises after an airstrike outside west Kobani, Syria AP In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani A militant with the Isis group walks in the town of Kobani In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Militants with the Isis group, bottom, along with a machine gun-fitted pick up truck, partially seen bottom right, hold positions in Kobani, during intensified fighting with Syrian Kurds In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani People watch smoke rising from the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobani by the Kurds, after an air strike Getty In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Smoke rises from a strike at an area of a mosque that destroyed its minaret, in Kobani during heavy fighting between militants with the Isis group and Syrian Kurds In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Militants with Isis hold positions in Kobani, Syria, during intensified fighting with Syrian Kurds AP In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani A partial view of Kobani with a mosque's minaret

Kurdish fighters in Syria managed to fight off government troops at the beginning of the civil war, establishing their own relatively peaceful and democratic administration in Rojava despite the chaos that has engulfed much of the country since.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is thought to be be in a position to defeat remaining Sunni rebels now that the tide of the war has turned in his favour following the fall of Aleppo.

While they have been kept out of all peace talks to date, Rojava officials remain hopeful that they will be allowed to continue govern themselves, despite opposition from neighbouring Turkey.

“2017 will be the final year [of the war] both militarily and politically. Even if a solution is not reached, the conditions for a solution will be created. The YPJ will always support a democratic peaceful solution,” Ms Abdullah said.