V19: A Volunteer from the West in the YPG Part 1

In this amazing 19th episode of the Silah Report Podcast, we were joined by our guest Rizgar, a European who volunteered with the Kurdish YPG in 2016. He gave us some insight on his journey from being your everyday civilian in Europe to a fighter battling beside the Kurds on the frontlines against ISIS militants. He shares with us some fantastic pictures he took over there and his experience with fellow Kurdish comrades and Western volunteers.

If you’d like to have your questions answered by our panel during an edition of the podcast, please support Silah Report on Patreon and submit questions as often as you like!

If you missed the previous episode, you can find it here.

Check out the podcast here and listen along with the photographs below!

https://soundcloud.com/silah-report/v19-a-volunteer-from-the-west-in-the-ypg-part-1

Podcast Running Order:

Presentations:

Rizgar’s Decision

At the Bootcamp

The Fighter Goes to the Frontlines

Variety of Small Arms and Weaponry

Rizgar’s Decision

Rizgar explains the spark behind his life-changing act of volunteering to bring the fight to ISIS. He sheds light on his background and political views, all played a role that would, in the end, lead him to become a fighter among the ranks of the YPG.

At the Bootcamp

**Fig. 1.2.** Rizgar with a fellow European volunteer who decided to join for the same reasons he did, both armed with AK-pattern rifles

Rizgar also shines a light on the ‘training’ which bore no resemblance to professional military training by Western standards – firing just 9 rounds with an AKM self-loading rifle during his month’s training. He also received ideological classes during his time as a ‘trainee’ before being sent to the frontlines hurriedly. After that, he explains moment by moment to the smallest detail, his first combat experience.

The Fighter Goes to the Frontlines

**Fig. 1.3**. Rizgar manning a PKM general purpose machine gun in a frontline position

Rizgar’s experiences and stories were fascinating to hear and show the reality of war. It was completely different to how he expected it to turn out, especially his very first firefight!

**Fig. 1.4.** Rizgar is using a bolt-action surplus Mosin-Nagant 91/30 rifle during a stint of guard duty.

**Fig. 1.5.** Rizgar was equipped this time with a SVD Dragunov self-loading marksman’s rifle

Variety of Small Arms and Weaponry

Both Syrian and Iraqi Kurdistan at the time were awash with weapons floating everywhere from different origins. Rizgar shared with us a number of photos of weaponry that crossed his path and briefly explained the logistics system used by the YPG.

**Fig. 1.6.** A modified AK-pattern self-loading rifle used by one of the European volunteers. Unfortunately, Rizgar couldn’t get enough information on the weapon as the owner barely spoke English.

**Fig. 1.7.** A European volunteer with a very similar modification but the rifle has a much longer barrel.

**Fig. 1.8.** An office with a unique variety of small arms, including AK-pattern rifles, a Beretta PM-12 submachine gun, a G3 self-loading rifle and a WWII-era StG-44

**Fig. 1.9.** A number of RPGs and PKMs, an a Mosin-Nagant 91/30 hidden at the back, as used by Rizgar’s comrades in the fighting.

Patreon Shoutout

If you want to support our work on researching small arms and light weapons in the MENA and Central Asian regions, please consider joining our Patreon support network that allows us to get articles, videos, and podcasts such as these to an international audience. Check us out here!
www.patreon.com/SilahReport