Syria: Ex-British Army soldiers 'joining Kurdish fight against Isis militants'

A former British soldier who served in Afghanistan is among a growing number of Brits joining the ranks of westerners heading to Syria and Iraq to help in the fight against the so-called Islamic State militants, according to the Observer.

The newspaper reports that James Hughes, from Reading, Berkshire, is understood to be in Rojava, northern Syria, helping to defend the beleaguered city of Kobani as a de facto “mercenary” fighting on behalf of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, the YPG.

The Observer states that Mr Hughes is fighting alongside his friend Jamie Read, from Newmains, north Lanakshire in Scotland.

It is also reported that the Britons appear to have been recruited by an American called Jordan Matson on behalf of the “Lions of Rojava”, which is run by the Kurdish YPG movement and whose Facebook page urges people to join and help “send [the] terrorists to hell and save humanity” from Isis.

Earlier this month, a Twitter account run by the Lions of Rojava - the group that it is thought many Westerners are no fighting for - posted this image claiming that "US and British" ex-special forces troops were joining them in the battle against the militants.

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This latest development brings with it the possibility that British citizens may well be fighting each other in the strategic border town. Abu Abdullah al Habashi, 21, and Abu Dharda, 20, both from London, are thought to have died in the latest Isis offense to take the town from Kurdish forces.

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