Father And Daughter Reunited On IS Front Line

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A father and daughter have discovered they are both fighting Islamic State on the front line of the battle for the Syrian border town of Kobani.

Pervin Kobani, 19, is one of many female fighters in the Kurdish army who are battling to fight off the extremist group.

The farmer's daughter took up arms two years ago, signing up with the Syrian Kurdish women's self-defence force, known by its Kurdish acronym YPJ.

They now fight with the men's unit, the YPG.

After half a year away from Kobani fighting elsewhere in Syria, she returned two months ago to help keep IS at bay.

She is part of a group of holding an eastern front-line position which is regularly attacked by the militants.

Then, three weeks ago, Pervin bumped into her father, Farouk, on a street corner.

She was surprised to see him holding a gun.

Pervin had no idea her father had also decided to fight. Other family members have now left Syria - her mother is a refugee in Turkey and her brother is studying in Algeria.

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Gallery: US-Led Airstrikes on Kobani

Smoke and flames rise over a hill near the Syrian town of Kobani after an airstrike, as seen from the Mursitpinar crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in Sanliurfa province

US military forces again focused airstrikes on the area near the Syrian city in their campaign to turn back Islamic State forces and also hit oil facilities held by the militant group

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"My feeling at that time was very happy," she said.

"Honestly, when I heard my father is fighting on the western front with the YPG I was so proud of him and it made me want to fight more."

Farouk Kobani had joined the town's defenders in September.

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Gallery: Archive: Kurds Celebrate Peshmerga's Kobani Mission

Air strikes took place ahead of the peshmerga's arrival to take part in the battle for Kobani

A series of explosions took place in Kobani

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After months without news from his daughter, he was delighted to see her. And he had some advice for her.

"I always say to her that, when you get into a fight, just keep your mind on the fighting," he said.

"When the fighting is over, love your friends and Kurdistan with all your heart."

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Gallery: Human Cost Of Battle For Kobani

A Syrian Kurdish woman and her children at a refugee camp at Suruc, Turkey. These images have emerged as Islamic State (IS) continues to fight for control of the border town of Kobani in Syria

Turkey dropped its refusal to allow Kurdish fighters over the border to defend besieged Kobani, saying it was now helping Iraqi peshmerga to cross the frontier in a major policy shift

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Pervin has since returned with a journalist to the western front to see her father again.

She is determined to stay and defend her town.

"All Kobani is important for IS, they want to take the city," she said.

"If we don't defend it well, they will enter. We cannot say they are only in the south. If there is no protection on two fronts, IS will enter the city. But we won't allow the terrorist groups in until the last drop of our blood."

The Kurds and their Free Syrian Army allies, aided by US-led coalition airstrikes, have been defending Kobani since mid-September when IS launched their assault on the town.

But the Kobani battle is a small part of a larger war in Syria which has killed more than 200,000 people in less than four years, according to a monitoring group.

"We have documented the killing of 202,354 people since March 2011," UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Of those killed, more than 130,000 were fighters, the group said.

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