The women risking their lives to keep the world safe from terror.

By APARNA BALAKUMAR.

These women are not afraid to take on ISIS.

Meet the Kurdish Female Fighters – all-women warriors taking on the Islamic State. Headfirst.

Tonight’s 60 Minutes gave viewers an insight into a group of extraordinary women – wives, daughters, mothers, and friends – risking their lives everyday to restore peace to their society.

The world might be fighting ISIS to stop their brutal anti-west agenda, but these women are doing it to save themselves from ISIS’s horrific brand of Islam being imposed throughout Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

And yet. If the male Iraqi army, now with assistance from a coalition of powerful countries around the world, including our own, have struggled to bring down the power of ISIS, how on earth do a group of determined Kurdish women — prime targets — plan to do it?

Journalist Tara Brown found out.

Brown touched down in Kurdish territory, straddling Syria and Iraq, in the midst of the war. Though the Iraqi Army has fled many major states, some Kurds have remained to defend themselves. A point that annoys ISIS militants to no end. ISIS are a barbaric group known to kidnap, rape, starve, kill and sell those they control. They are terrorising the world with their public beheadings of foreign journalists and aid workers, and slaughtering their enemies wherever they find them.

Commander Nerzin is one woman who stands against ISIS. She mans a 20km frontline, commanding both men and women fighters. The war zone Brown accompanies her to is eerily clear of civilians now. They’ve all fled from ISIS or been been killed by them instead.

“It is not a personal fear that we have, but it’s fear for our society and culture. That’s our fear, because we know their goal is not a humane goal. That’s why we fight hard,” Commander Nerzin told 60 Minutes.

Judy Osse agrees. As a young girl she dreamed of becoming an economist in Syrian Kurdistan. Instead, her anger at the ISIS militants feeling entitled to rape women, butcher them or sell them into slavery, saw her heading to fight IS. And she stands firmly against the idea only men can — or should– fight.

“I say no difference for between a female and male. For us both of them can join with each other to fighting against ISIS. Because now we live in a dangerous situation here. So ISIS come to our area, destroyed everything and damage everything, kill the children, kidnap the women and make everything bad in the region,” Osse said.

And that’s the hard truth. In the fight against ISIS, all hands are on deck. The Kurdish forces are working with the women of the People’s Protection Unit to take them down. There’s no time for gender-based division here.

Nerzin says: “So many, many times our victories have been won by women. They even motivate the men to be stronger and tougher fighters. In every fight, women prove their true strength and ability – they proved that it is a lie that women cannot fight.”

But, don’t be fooled. The frontline isn’t where these mainly 20-something-year-old women want to be. It’s where they have to be, if they are to ever have a shot at the life they want to lead.

“We are not lover of the weapon. We are not lover of the fighting. We are not lover of the killing. All of us wanted to live a safe life, to go to the…to complete our studies and have a boyfriend… but now, as I say, we live in emergency situation,” Osse said.

“I am smiling because it helps my comrades when they see my smile because it motivates them to keep strong and keep fighting with high spirits,” Soszda says.

Another woman, 19-year-old Golbhana, had surgery on her fractured legs after being shot by ISIS. Yet, she too, possesses a positive attitude: “No, I wasn’t scared. Why would I get scared?! It was a victory for us. I have a goal, so death does not threaten us.”

Collectively, these brave Kurdish women stand united with a common goal in mind: to save their people, and to regain their homes.

And we should pray like hell that they succeed.