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A B.C. fashion model-turned-freedom fighter is speaking out about her decision to rejoin the fight against ISIS in Syria.
Hanna Bohman, 48, has travelled to Syria twice. She returned to Vancouver in June, 2016 after rejoining other foreigners in a faction of Kurdish fighters.
"I needed to do something with my life. I was bored. I didn't feel like I had done anything that I felt was really important," she told CTV Vancouver.
She shrugged off the thought that it seems an odd decision for a Canadian citizen, with no connection to Syria, to pick up a gun and join a conflict in the Middle East.
Bohman said she joined the YPJ – the female brigade of the Kurdish People's Protection Units– after getting smuggled into the country.
"They were fighting for women's rights in the Middle East and they're an actual fighting army," she said about her desire to join the YPJ. "I never joined the Canadian army because the women don't really get to fight. They mainly get to do logistical things."
Bohman is planning to head back to the area soon.
"I'm going to the region again, whether I can go back to Syria again, I'm not sure," she said.
She emphasized that she made her decision to join Kurdish fighters after first deciding against participating in the Crimea conflict, and that she was able to do so because she had both the time and money needed for the travel.