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| Sri Lanka |
| 3rd US volunteer dies in Raqqa op |
| 2017-01-28 |
| On Friday, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Syriac Military Council (SMC) confirmed in a statement the death of a 5th foreign volunteer as part of the anti-ISIS Raqqa operation–launched in November 2016. On Thursday, the group Assisting Volunteers of Rojava suggested a US volunteer died in the operation, but this was not confirmed by the YPG forces. “With great sadness we announce the passing away of our good friend Albert Avery Harrington, an American Volunteer who was injured in a bomb explosion a few days ago in Syria and passed away early this morning from his injuries,” the Assisting Volunteers of Rojava said. “Rest in peace brother Cekdar Rojava [Kurdish nickname of Harrington], you are loved and missed. Our condolences to Harrington family.” On Friday, the YPG and the SMC released a statement to the family of Albert Avery Harrington (Cekdar Rojava) confirming the death of the US volunteer. The statement was also published on the official website of the YPG in Kurdish. On 15 March, 2015, Harrington joined the YPG with the nickname Cekdar Rojava or Neshro Hiro. “We have been honored by Albert’s participation in our forces: it has built on our own essential desire for freedom. Despite the geographical distance between us, we found common values in the interest of humanity,” the YPG told the Harrington family. “Albert joined actively in our offensive against the terror threat that ISIS has caused upon Northern Syria. During the last two months Albert took active part with the YPG and with the Syriac Military Council in the Euphrates Wrath Operation to liberate Raqqa city,” the YPG said. “Here, on the morning of 18th January, 2017, one group of SMC was attacked by two VBIEDS [car bombs] in Suwaydiya-Saghirah village – Raqqa,” the YPG said. “In this ISIS-led attack three fighters were killed and three were injured, including Harrington who died from his injuries later on the 25th of January.” Last week on 22 January, the YPG confirmed the death of another US volunteer named Paolo Todd from Los Angeles, California who was also killed in the same village of Suwaydiya, where Harrington was injured. On 16 January, the Kurds also announced that three Western volunteers (one British, one Canadian and one American) were killed as part of the Raqqa campaign. In total, five Western volunteers have lost their lives so far in the Euphrates Wrath Campaign, that was launched on 6 November with support of the US-led coalition to take Raqqa, the de-facto capital of ISIS in Syria. |
| Posted by:badanov |