British woman killed fighting in Syria

London, March 19

A British woman fighting alongside Kurdish forces in Syria has been killed, the media reported on Monday.

Anna Campbell, from Lewes in East Sussex, was volunteering with the US-backed Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) — the all-female affiliate army of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) — in the besieged city of Afrin when the convoy she was travelling in was struck by a Turkish missile on March 16, reports the Guardian.

Sources said the 26-year-old initially travelled to Syria to join the Kurdish struggle against the Islamic State (IS) terror group but asked her Kurdish commanders to send her to the Afrin front after Turkey launched a ground and air offensive on January 20.

“They refused at first, but she was adamant, and even dyed her blonde hair black so as to appear less conspicuous as a westerner,” a YPJ source told the Guardian. “Finally they gave in and let her go.” She is not only the first British woman killed fighting alongside Kurdish forces in Syria, but also the first Briton to die in the Kurdish-held territory.

Her father, Dirk Campbell, described her as a “beautiful and loving daughter” who “would go to any lengths to create the world that she believed in”.

“Anna was very idealistic, very serious, very wholehearted and wanted to create a better world. She wasn’t fighting when she died; she was engaged in a defensive action against the Turkish incursion.” Campbell is believed to be the eighth British citizen killed while serving with Kurdish forces in Syria. — IANS