YPG International
The YPG International or People's Protection Units International is a military unit made up of foreign volunteers of the People's Protection Units in Syria. It was created in December 2016 as the Antifascist International Tabûr. The unit is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Syrian Civil War.Establishment and campaigns
The brigade was founded in December 2016, and elected as its first commander the Italian-Moroccan Karim Marcello Franceschi. The battalion emerged from a proposal for foreign fighters to serve in an English-speaking unit, as opposed to the International Freedom Battalion, where the predominant language is Turkish.
The unit is composed mostly of people from Western Europe, including communists, socialists and anarchists. The unit's initial statement mentioned their principles and causes, highlighting the common unity between communists and anarchists as an anti-fascist front against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The statement was released in several languages, including English, Italian, Spanish and Basque.
The unit took part in the 2016 Manbij offensive, the Raqqa campaign, the Deir ez-Zor campaign, and the resistance to the 2018 Turkish invasion of Afrin and the 2019 Turkish offensive into northeastern Syria.
