Abstract: Even though foreign fighters are an age-old phenomenon, they have once again come to the fore with the outbreak of the war in Syria. The battlefield has attracted thousands of foreign volunteers who have joined militant groups and further increased the level of violence perpetrated against civilians. The rise of ISIS has led the international community to mainly focus on Sunni radicalism, ignoring the Shia or Leftist transnational insurgency. This paper attempts at analysing the phenomenon and current dynamics of YPG foreign fighters in Syria. In doing so, the paper has described the journey of these foreigners in three phases. A mobilisation phase during which a volunteer is motivated to travel to Syria, an engagement phase that describes his or her role and responsibilities vis-à-vis the YPG, and the third phase upon their return home, and the new roles they embrace afterwards.
About the Author:
Sinan Hatahet is a Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Forum. He is currently a consultant working with a number of think tanks on Syria. His research is concentrated on governance and local councils, anti-radicalization, Islamism, the Kurdish National Movement, and the new regional order in the Middle East. He previously worked as the executive director of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) media office since its establishment in late 2012 until September 2014.
About the Author:
Mehmet Emin Cengiz is a Research Fellow at the Istanbul-based international think tank Al Sharq Strategic Research, focusing on Syria, Turkey, and the wider Middle East. After receiving his B.A. from the Sociology Department at Ege University in 2016, Cengiz completed his master’s degree at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of the Middle East at Marmara University in 2020. During his B.A., he also participated in the Erasmus+ Program and studied at Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf as an international exchange student in Germany.
Cengiz’s pieces regarding Turkish foreign policy, the Syrian war, and non-state armed actors have appeared in national and international media outlets and think tanks.
His research interests are the Syrian conflict, non-state armed actors, Turkish foreign policy, volunteer foreign fighters, and regional Kurdish politics.
About the Author:
Bedir Mulla Rashid is an independent Syrian researcher specializing in Kurdish affairs. Previously Rashid worked as a researcher at the Omran Center for Strategic Studies for around 5 years. He graduated from the Arabic-English translation department at Damascus University. He also obtained his MA degree in the Political Science and International Relations department by writing his thesis on the sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime.
Rashid authored and co-authored several analyses and research papers on the PYD-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). He also wrote a book chapter on the AANES which was published by the Omran Center for Strategic Studies.
Rashid’s works include: Military and Security Structures of the Autonomous Administration in Syria, The Autonomous Administration in Northern Syria: Questions of Legitimacy and Identity, The Phenomenon of YPG Transnational Fighters in Syria.