An Australian man has been killed while fighting alongside Kurdish fighters against the ISIL militants in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasaka.
The unidentified Australian national was killed on Tuesday as ISIL members carried out an assault against a position of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) near the town of Tal Hamis, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Thursday.
Director of the so-called monitoring group, Rami Abdel Rahman, stated, "Dozens of Westerners have joined the YPG's ranks” and are on offensives against ISIL in Syria as well as neighboring Iraq.
Meanwhile, Australia has voiced concern that an increasing number of females from the Oceanian country are heading to Iraq and Syria to marry ISIL militants.
“Sadly we are seeing a younger cohort seeking to join the conflict in Syria and Iraq and an increasing number of young females,” Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Thursday.
Reports say at least 110 Australians, including between 30 and 40 women, have left the country to join ISIL ranks in conflict-stricken Iraq and Syria.
A recent UN Security Council report said more than 15,000 militants with over 80 nationalities, including Americans and Europeans, have joined terrorist groups fighting the Syrian government.
Meanwhile, the Soufan Group, a New York-based intelligence firm, estimated in June 2014 that at least 3,000 militants of European origin have been active in several militancy-riddled regions across the Arab country.
US media reports say more than 100 US citizens have also traveled to Syria to fight President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
The ISIL militants currently control shrinking swathes of territory across Syria and Iraq. They have carried out heinous atrocities in both countries, including mass executions and beheadings.
