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Her fame has spread throughout Aleppo. Her comrades have nicknamed her Guevara, but to many residents she is known simply as “the female sniper.”

Standing stock still, her finger suspended over the trigger, she stares through the sight of her Dragonov rifle.

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Her view framed by the jagged concrete edges of the fist-sized hole cut into the wall of her hideout on one of the most dangerous front lines in Aleppo, Guevara, named after the revolutionary, watches the enemy — government soldiers — moving along the other side of the street.

“I like fighting. When I see that one of my friends in my katiba [rebel division] has been killed, I feel that I have to hold a weapon and take my revenge,” she says.

Dressed in green khaki pants, a grey sweater dress, tight-fitting hijab and a camouflage combat jacket, the 36-year-old woman cleans and loads her gun, sitting in a half-demolished building.

Despite the war, her eyebrows are perfectly plucked, and she wears blusher and a little eyeliner, small leather boots with heels and a gold bracelet.