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Politics

14th Oct 2019

‘We have thrown the Kurds to the wolves’

Macer Gifford left a City job to join the Kurds and fight against ISIS, he says the West has betrayed its brothers-in-arms

Oli Dugmore

Macer Gifford left a City job to join the Kurds and fight against ISIS, he says the West has betrayed its brothers-in-arms

In the fight against ISIS, few gave as much as the Kurds. Allied with Western forces, it was the largely Kurdish SDF that challenged ISIS on the ground, backed by coalition air support.

Since defeating the barbaric fascists, the SDF has been guarded by US troops stationed along the Turkish border. Turkey wants to establish a buffer zone into Syria in order to protect its border and in which to relocate some two million Syrian refugees.

After President Donald Trump ordered his soldiers to withdraw, Turkey invaded. Civilians and soldiers have been killed by the dozen.

Macer Gifford fought alongside the Kurds, including the bloody battle to liberate ISIS’s capital, Raqqa.

He says that the West has betrayed its allies and “thrown them to the wolves.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for economic sanctions against Turkey unless it conforms to a UN ceasefire.