Foreign combatants have long been present in the ranks of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, but now their status is becoming more formalised.
The first contingent of a new foreign volunteer unit recently graduated from military training to become an official part of the YPG. A press conference was held in Ras al-Ayn (Sere Kaniye in Kurdish) to announce the creation of the International Freedom Battalion.
The unit currently consists of 30 recruits from various countries including Germany, Spain, Greece, Turkey and Albania. Like the rest of the YPG, it has female as well as male soldiers. Each joined up individually and went through military training.
Spanish doctor Rio Amore, who is travelling with the battalion to treat the wounded in a mobile clinic, was at the press conference. Ernesto, a fighter also from Spain, told Damascus Bureau, “This battalion includes fighters from all over the world. They came here to participate in and win the Rojava [Syrian Kurdistan] revolution.”
According to the unit’s commander, Serkand Miji Olem, most of the International Freedom Battalion’s recruits are members of leftist parties aged between 22 and 30. None is married.
