Another foreign volunteer in the People’s Protection Units (YPG) has died, YPG-affiliated and Australian media report.
Aussie Jamie Bright-nicknamed Jabbar Amed in Kurdish-was killed on May 25th, according Reece Harding News Agency. In a video posted by the agency named after another killed-in-action Australian YPG volunteer, Bright can be heard saying in Kurdish “I came to help the YPG and Rojava Kurdistan,” referring to the predominantly Kurdish and autonomous region of northeastern Syria, now controlled by the YPG.
The Australian news outlet ABC says Bright joined the YPG in January 2015. He was a veteran of the Australian Defence Force, and working as a painter beforehand. The outlet has yet to confirm Bright's death.
Bright is not the first Australian to die fighting Daesh (ISIS) with the YPG. Ashley Johnston died in February 2015, and the aforementioned Harding died in June of the same year. Several dozen other western volunteers have died fighting with the YPG, as well as 680 native YPG fighters in 2015 alone.
Several YPG-affiliated English language outlets mourned bright. The Lions of Rojava Facebook page posted a photo of the departed reading “We will never forget you and will never let you down and we will continue your struggle,” and received nearly 500 likes to date.
Volunteering with the YPG is no walk in the park, and Australians in particular risk legal consequences back home.
