Westerners are also committed combatants against the Islamic State jihadist movement in Syria. They have been fighting at the side of the Kurdish YPG, in Al Hasakah in northeastern Syria. British-born Michael Enright left an actor’s life in Hollywood. He was in Pirates of the Caribbean, for instance. He trained here for a few weeks. Enright explains his reasons for coming.

“When James Foley, the first journalist, had his head cut off, he was kneeling down. His hands were tied behind his back so he had no opportunity to defend himself from this coward — because that’s what he was. He was an English coward. He cut his head off. That was very difficult — especially because he was English — that was very difficult for me to see that.”

In Rojava or Western Kurdistan, the Kurds are fighting to maintain their regional autonomy by defeating ISIL.

The brutal group bent on establishing its own caliphate also has westerners on its side.

A former soldier in the Canadian military, giving o