Syria female fighter

Lieutenant Mirfaat Mohamad Saeed has assumed the role of first female martyr for the pro-government cause of Syrian President Bashir al-Assad.

According to a report by Vocativ, Saeed was killed during a gun fight between the Syrian army and a group of rebels, which erupted at a border checkpoint.

News of her death spread quickly on social media where Assad supporters have dubbed Saeed a martyr.

Rebels also commented on Saeed's death.

In one post on the Free Syrian Army website, rebels said: "We stepped on the dead...Mirfat Mohamad Saeed, which was one of Assad's Shabiha in the presidential guard. ...May she go to hell and good riddance."

Army service is not mandatory for women in Syria, but Saeed and her sister enlisted to defend the regime, fuelled by a strong sense of patriotism, according to a Syrian government report.

Pro-regime Facebook page Sama Youth Volunteer Group Youth Network says Saeed's father was against his two daughters joining the army, claiming that war is for men.

According to the Facebook page, the two sisters said at the same time: "We are the sisters of men, and because God did not provide you with sons, we will be the men and you will be proud of us, father."

"We are the sisters of men, and because God did not provide you with sons, we will be the men and you will be proud of us, father."
Saeed sisters

Saeed and her sister were transferred to a checkpoint in Daria, outside Damascus.

Saeed died when "unholy Wahabi Zionists mercenary villains attacked the checkpoint", the pro-regime group that was with her said.

While she was in agony, Saeed repeated twice the Shahada, an Islamic statement of faith.

Vocativ previously reported on female fighters in Syria civil war, who have been fighting on both sides since the conflict started in 2011.

About 500 women were recruited in 2013 to the Lionesses for National Defence group, which fights on Assad's side.

Some reports have likened the group to former Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's female bodyguards, named the Amazonian Guard.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated that at least 5,000 women were fighting in Syria last year, al-monitor.com reported.