ALEPPO, Syria: Her fame has spread throughout Aleppo. Her comrades have nicknamed her ''Guevara'', but to many of the city's 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 Belgium FN rifle. 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 Marxist revolutionary, watches the enemy - government soldiers - moving along the other side of the street.

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

Dressed in green khaki trousers, a grey jumper dress, tight-fitting hijab and a camouflage combat jacket, Guevara, 36, 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. A female fighter in Syria's conservative Muslim society is rare, often considered improper. But Guevara commands the respect of her fellow fighters - some 30 men and boys, some as young as 16.