From ex-soldiers to those who believed they were revolutionaries, thousands of westerners traveled to Syria to fight ISIS alongside the Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, and the women’s militia, the YPJ. The death toll of foreign volunteers was in the hundreds, and while some of those who survived stayed behind, many returned home and had to face the task of readjusting to normal life.
But what happened next?
The forex trader
Four years after starting a prestigious and well-paid career in foreign currency trading in the UK's financial services, Macer Gifford, 33, quit the City of London to join the frontline battle against ISIS. He became invested in the Kurdish cause after reading newspaper reports about ISIS brutality.
Mr Gifford spent three years in Syria. In 2017, he started making his way home on the same day that ISIS surrendered in Raqqa, the city which had been the seat of their power in the country.
"Leaving felt like a mixture of accomplishment, tinged with intense sadness because this was my third year in a country where I'd seen dozens of my friends killed," he told The National.
Mr Gifford, who was 27 when he left London, found himself back home in his thirties with no job and having spent any savings he had from his days in the City. But unlike many, who came back without a plan, Mr Gifford spent his last few months in Raqqa considering what he would do as a civilian in London.
“I was on a rooftop in Raqqa and I had managed to connect my satellite phone to the internet and I started Googling stuff,” he said. He saw an alumni message from Loughborough University, where he studied 10 years before, and decided to study a master's in security, peace-building and diplomacy.
Since completing his degree he has begun working as a human rights activist, championing the Kurdish cause both in politics and the media across Europe. He was a leading British voice in condemning the Turkish invasion into Kurdish-held territory in October.
“After three years of nasty fighting, I wanted to get involved in the dialogue and be a part of the diplomatic engagement from the West with the Kurds. I have done a lot of media work ... and I’m close to finishing a book," he said.
“I’m lucky, I’m not haunted by my experiences in Syria,” said Gifford. “Some international volunteers came back badly wounded with bullet wounds and some have come back disabled ... When you add up all the things we’ve had to give up – time, friends, money – you have to say to yourself, 'was it worth it?' For me, it was.”
The soldier
Joshua Molloy, 28, was in 2015 the first Irish volunteer to travel to Syria to fight for the YPG. Unlike many western volunteers with no formal military training, Mr Molloy had been an infantry soldier in the British Army for four years.
“The army training gave me self-discipline,” he said. “But in a way, it was almost a curse because you’ve been trained a certain way and then you go over there and it’s completely different: There are no helmets, no body armour and you’re working in small teams.”
As he was leaving Syria in 2016, Mr Molloy was detained by the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq for over a week alongside fellow volunteers Joe Ackerman and Jac Holmes. Holmes later returned to Syria in October 2017 and was killed clearing mines in Raqqa, days after the city was liberated from ISIS.
Mr Molloy found it difficult to find work upon his return home, but eventually found a job in a hotel, which he used to support himself while he applied for university. He is now in his final year of an international relations degree at Dublin City University.
“I mainly did the degree to understand the experience I’d had, to try and contextualise it and reflect on it,” he said. “I’m hoping to do a master’s degree after this.”
“I was lucky as I had some things to anchor me,” he said. “Some people came back and they had no support.”
The revolutionary
Leaving Syria was one of the most difficult things Alexander Norton has ever done.
While many volunteers travelled to the region specifically to fight ISIS, Mr Norton went to participate in what he believed to be a revolution.
A left-wing activist since he was a teenager, he travelled to Palestine in 2004 at the age of 18 to volunteer with a nonviolent protest movement in support of the Palestinian cause. Later, while working in railway construction, he became attracted by the YPG’s leftist ideology.
“As I grew up, I went from being an activist to being more of a seriously ideologically driven person,” he said.
Going to Rojava (the Kurdish name for the previously YPG-controlled part of northern Syria) was about more than just fighting on the frontline for Mr Norton, it was about being part of a movement that was creating a new society.
In his first visit to Rojava in 2015, he was part of a workers’ reconstruction brigade, rebuilding the city of Kobani that had been under siege from ISIS. He also used social media to highlight the Kurdish cause.
Mr Norton did not participate in armed combat until 2016, when he returned to take part in the campaign to liberate Raqqa.
“Yes, I carried a weapon and we did engage but I’m much prouder to say I was a revolutionary. I’d have been just as happy if my commander had said to me 'you’re going to take a group of children to paint a mural tomorrow',” he said.
He had agreed with his family that he would leave in early 2017, but the moment he was told that he would be sent home from the region still came as an unpleasant shock.
“When my commander came in and told me I was leaving the next morning, I had to go and wretch in the toilet because I was so upset that I was leaving. I was sick at the thought,” he said.
“I knew I had to [go] but this was everything I’d ever wanted in life, to participate in a revolution and be surrounded by revolutionaries. I just knew that this would be the high point of my life.”
Since returning to the UK, he has, however, found fulfillment with his partner and being involved in political projects. Last year, Mr Norton was appointed as Deputy Features Editor at a London-based socialist newspaper.
“I saw the position came up and I thought I would have no chance because of a lack of journalistic experience,” he said. “But a friend of mine said 'you should write about what you did in Syria, capturing stories and putting them out there on social media'. I think the role really suits me.”
Like a number of returning volunteers, Mr Norton is now being monitored by the British authorities. He was brought in for questioning by police in 2018 about his activities in Syria and six months later his house was searched by counter-terror officers. The situation remains unresolved.
“I’m a revolutionary, [the British authorities] will be waiting out there for the rest of my life,” he said, adding “that is fine.”
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
The%20specs
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RESULTS
Bantamweight: Victor Nunes (BRA) beat Azizbek Satibaldiev (KYG). Round 1 KO
Featherweight: Izzeddin Farhan (JOR) beat Ozodbek Azimov (UZB). Round 1 rear naked choke
Middleweight: Zaakir Badat (RSA) beat Ercin Sirin (TUR). Round 1 triangle choke
Featherweight: Ali Alqaisi (JOR) beat Furkatbek Yokubov (UZB). Round 1 TKO
Featherweight: Abu Muslim Alikhanov (RUS) beat Atabek Abdimitalipov (KYG). Unanimous decision
Catchweight 74kg: Mirafzal Akhtamov (UZB) beat Marcos Costa (BRA). Split decision
Welterweight: Andre Fialho (POR) beat Sang Hoon-yu (KOR). Round 1 TKO
Lightweight: John Mitchell (IRE) beat Arbi Emiev (RUS). Round 2 RSC (deep cuts)
Middleweight: Gianni Melillo (ITA) beat Mohammed Karaki (LEB)
Welterweight: Handesson Ferreira (BRA) beat Amiran Gogoladze (GEO). Unanimous decision
Flyweight (Female): Carolina Jimenez (VEN) beat Lucrezia Ria (ITA), Round 1 rear naked choke
Welterweight: Daniel Skibinski (POL) beat Acoidan Duque (ESP). Round 3 TKO
Lightweight: Martun Mezhlumyan (ARM) beat Attila Korkmaz (TUR). Unanimous decision
Bantamweight: Ray Borg (USA) beat Jesse Arnett (CAN). Unanimous decision
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Settlers
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
The specs: 2018 Kia Picanto
Price: From Dh39,500
Engine: 1.2L inline four-cylinder
Transmission: Four-speed auto
Power: 86hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 122Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.0L / 100km
RESULTS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E5pm%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Al%20Shamkha%20%E2%80%93%20Maiden%20(PA)%20Dh80%2C000%20(Turf)%201%2C400m%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EWinner%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ruwani%2C%20Moatasem%20Al%20Balushi%20(jockey)%2C%20Abdallah%20Al%20Hammadi%20(trainer)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E5.30pm%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Khalifa%20City%20%E2%80%93%20Handicap%20(PA)%20Dh80%2C000%20(T)%201%2C400m%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EWinner%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAF%20Heraqle%2C%20Bernardo%20Pinheiro%2C%20Qaiss%20Aboud%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E6pm%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Masdar%20City%20%E2%80%93%20Handicap%20(PA)%20Dh80%2C000%20(T)%201%2C600m%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EWinner%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20AF%20Yatwy%2C%20Patrick%20Cosgrave%2C%20Nisren%20Mahgoub%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E6.30pm%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Wathba%20Stallions%20Cup%20%E2%80%93%20Handicap%20(PA)%20Dh70%2C000%20(T)%202%2C200m%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EWinner%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20AF%20Alzahi%2C%20Tadhg%20O%E2%80%99Shea%2C%20Ernst%20Oertel%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E7pm%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Emirates%20Championship%20%E2%80%93%20Group%201%20(PA)%20Dh1%2C000%2C000%20(T)%202%2C200m%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EWinner%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ajrad%20Athbah%2C%20Bernardo%20Pinheiro%2C%20Majed%20Al%20Jahouri%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E7.30pm%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Shakbout%20City%20%E2%80%93%20Handicap%20(TB)%20Dh80%2C000%20(T)%202%2C400m%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EWinner%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Webinar%2C%20Tadhg%20O%E2%80%99Shea%2C%20Bhupat%20Seemar%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Mobile phone packages comparison
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Haltia.ai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Arto%20Bendiken%20and%20Talal%20Thabet%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20AI%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2041%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20About%20%241.7%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Self%2C%20family%20and%20friends%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The squad traveling to Brazil:
Faisal Al Ketbi, Ibrahim Al Hosani, Khalfan Humaid Balhol, Khalifa Saeed Al Suwaidi, Mubarak Basharhil, Obaid Salem Al Nuaimi, Saeed Juma Al Mazrouei, Saoud Abdulla Al Hammadi, Taleb Al Kirbi, Yahia Mansour Al Hammadi, Zayed Al Kaabi, Zayed Saif Al Mansoori, Saaid Haj Hamdou, Hamad Saeed Al Nuaimi. Coaches Roberto Lima and Alex Paz.
Donating your hair
• Your hair should be least 30 cms long, as some of the hair is lost during manufacturing of the wigs.
• Clean, dry hair in good condition (no split ends) from any gender, and of any natural colour, is required.
• Straight, wavy, curly, permed or chemically straightened is permitted.
• Dyed hair must be of a natural colour
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The biog
Name: Sarah Al Senaani
Age: 35
Martial status: Married with three children - aged 8, 6 and 2
Education: Masters of arts in cultural communication and tourism
Favourite movie: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Favourite hobbies: Art and horseback ridding
Occupation: Communication specialist at a government agency and the owner of Atelier
Favourite cuisine: Definitely Emirati - harees is my favourite dish
Profile box
Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.