OSINT Summary: Pro-Kurdish foreign fighters group established in Syria

MESOP : A well document political biography – International Brigades in Spanish civil war fought under Stalin’s strict direction killing more Anarcho-Syndikalists and independent left indidviduals than members of the Franco fascist troops

PYD/PKK Headline: Enternasyonalist Özgürlük Taburu & the International Brigades that fought alongside the republicans during the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War.

Harriet Moore – IHS Jane’s Terrorism & Insurgency Monitor – 11 June 2015 – A statement released on 10 June announced the establishment of a pro-Kurdish foreign fighters group identified as the Enternasyonalist Özgürlük Taburu or Free Internationalist Brigades, in the predominantly Kurdish region of northeast Syria, called Rojava by Syrian Kurds. According to the statement, the group consists of personnel from Albania, Armenia, Germany, Greece, Spain, and Russia’s North Caucasus, as well as from Turkish political party the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (Marksist-Leninist Komünist Partisi: MLKP) and Turkish left-wing organisations the Halk Kurtulus Ordusu (HKO) and Birlesik Özgürlük Güçleri (BÖG).

The statement said that the Enternasyonalist Özgürlük Taburu fought on behalf of all “oppressed peoples, workers, labourers, women, youth, communities of different faiths and identities, ecologists, anti-imperialists anti-fascists, anti-capitalists, democrats, and revolutionaries”, and criticised “gangs” – a likely reference to the Islamic State – who it stated were persecuting both Christians and Muslims, raping women, trafficking slaves, and conducting mass executions. In particular, the statement made comparative references between the Enternasyonalist Özgürlük Taburu and the International Brigades that fought alongside the republicans during the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War.

The announcement of the group’s formation came the same day as United States media outlets and several social media accounts operated by Kurdish fighters in Syria claimed that a US national, identified as Keith Broomfield, had died while fighting with Kurdish forces against Islamic State militants near the town of Ayn al-Arab, also known as Kobanê, in Syria’s Aleppo governorate. The US Department of State confirmed Broomfield had died in Syria, but did not provide any further information.

The number of foreign nationals fighting on behalf of Kurdish forces in Syria has been steadily increasing over the past 12 months, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on 9 March that an estimated 100 Western nationals were thought to be fighting for Kurdish forces in Syria. The MLKP announced on 9 March that a German national, identified as Ivana Hoffmann (alias Avasin Tekosin Günes), had been killed fighting for the Syrian Kurdish militant group Yekîneyên Parastina Gel (YPG) against Islamic State militants in Tel Tamir in Syria’s Al-Hasaka governorate. Indeed, in its 10 June statement the Enternasyonalist Özgürlük Taburu identified itself as those “who fought under the flag YPG-YPJ [Yekîneyên Parastina Jinê, the YPG’s female fighter counterpart]”, implying a close relationship between the YPG and the newly-established group. In January 2015, MLKP commander Dilan Serkan claimed that the group had been in northeast Syria since 2012 and had predominantly fought in the ranks of the YPG-YPJ.

This new internationalist group is likely to have been established in conjunction with Syrian Kurdish forces in an attempt to both promote and intensify the recruitment of foreign nationals to fight against the Islamic State, as well as to further publicise Kurdish efforts against the Islamic State and build wider international support and recognition. Although the Enternasyonalist Özgürlük Taburu is, at least initially, unlikely to match the success of the Islamic State in attracting foreign fighters to Syria, the formation of the group may provide a short-term boost to the YPG and allied Kurdish forces in Syria. In addition, given the prominence of Turkish organisations within the new group and that foreign nationals seeking to enlist will almost certainly reach Syria via Turkey, the formation of the Enternasyonalist Özgürlük Taburu raises the risk of additional left-wing violence in Turkey, particularly targeting Islamist organisations or supporters of the Islamic State. http://www.janes.com/article/52169/osint-summary-pro-kurdish-foreign-fighters-group-established-in-syria#.VXn1wsJta7Q.twitter