The People’s Defense Units (YPG – Yekîneyên Parastina Gel) are a Kurdish militia based in Syria and the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The militia was set up to protect Kurdish-inhabited areas in northern Syria, and is the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party.
As part of the SDF, the YPG has maintained the autonomy of the region known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), or Rojava. This multiethnic region is reflected in the YPG’s membership, which includes the YPG International — foreign fighters who travelled to Syria to fight alongside the SDF in an English-speaking unit, mostly Western Europeans and Americans.
Our editor-in-chief, Antoine Brimbal, contacted River Rainbow O’Mahoney Hagg – a former volunteer to the YPG – to produce this exclusive insight into the group’s operations: a raw, unique look at Kurdistan’s armed struggle.
