Foreign fighters have become synonymous with the conflict in Syria and Iraq. We've seen battle-hardened Chechens and the British-accented executioners with the Islamic State, al-Qaeda veterans joining the fight with the new "Khorasan" group, and Lebanon's Hezbollah and other Iran-backed Shiite groups playing an increasingly important role on the battlefield.
On Tuesday, Kurdish media outlet Rudaw reported that a wave of foreign fighters hoping to join the front lines with Kurdish peshmerga forces had to be turned away. "The Peshmerga is a professional fighting force,” Ministry of Peshmerga spokesman Helgurd Hekmat explained to Rudaw. “Just last week, an American man arrived wanting to volunteer. I couldn't help him. Yes, they are volunteers, but we have to guarantee their lives, and we can't do that."
The fight against the Islamic State has gained Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria an unusual bout of international acclaim. Much of the attention has focused on the peshmerga, the fighting force of Iraq's northern Kurdish region. With its high profile role in rescuing Yazidis, the peshmerga has been especially easy to support.
As the conflict escalated over 2014, a number of foreigners attempted to join the peshmerga, and some did find success, despite Hekmat's comments. Last fall, Canadian combat veteran Dillon Hillier traveled to Iraq to fight alongside the peshmerga. Hillier has since returned to Canada: He says it was because he was removed from the front line after U.S. pressure.
A group that calls itself the 1st North American Expeditionary Force had been set up to support Canadians and Americans who want to join the Iraqi Kurdish fight against the Islamic State. In a statement published on Facebook, this group said the peshmerga's reticence about foreign fighters did not affect their cause, which they described as "internal development to provide long-term sustainment and stability."
Hopeful foreign fighters have found more success with other Kurdish groups. Particularly notable is the "The Lions of Rojava," a group of Westerners who are working with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, also known as the YPG. This group, led by American Jordan Matson, actively recruits fighters on its popular Facebook page and appears to have had a variety of nationalities working with it.
It's unclear whether the peshmerga's decision to not allow foreigners to fight was influenced by international pressure: Western governments have repeatedly released statements urging against traveling to join the fight in Syria and Iraq, even if allying with Kurdish forces. “It’s like any government; they don’t like things that they can’t control,” Hillier told the National Post of his removal from the front lines.
In his interview with Rudaw, Hekmat put it more simply, and in doing so echoed numerous Kurdish calls for more support (in particular, arms) from the West. The Iraqi Kurdish forces already has enough soldiers, he said, but they do not "have enough military support for the peshmerga to make progress."