Anna Campbell: British woman killed fighting with all-female Kurdish militia in Syria

A British woman fighting in an all-female Kurdish militia was killed in Syria earlier this month, her Kurdish commanders have said.

Anna Campbell, 26, from Lewes in East Sussex, was volunteering with the US-backed Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) in the northern Syrian city of Afrin when a Turkish missile struck her convoy on 15 March. 

“Conflict between Turkey and Kurdish groups has been inflamed since January,” says The Daily Telegraph.

Campbell, who was a plumber in the UK, is the British woman, and the eighth British national, to have died in Syria while fighting with the Kurdish militia. 

She travelled to Syria last May to join the YPJ, an all-female brigade of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). 

YPJ commander and spokesperson Nesrin Abdullah said the Briton’s death was a “great loss”.

“Campbell’s martyrdom is a great loss to us because with her international soul, her revolutionary spirit, which demonstrated the power of women, she expressed her will in all her actions,” Abdullah told The Guardian.

Campbell’s father, Dirk, told the BBC  that his daughter “wanted to create a better world” and was inspired to travel to northern Syria after hearing about the feminist and socialists revolution that was sweeping Kurdish-held regions.

“I told her of course that she was putting her life in danger, which she knew full well she was doing,” he added. “I feel I should have done more to persuade her to come back, but she was completely adamant.”

An estimated 50,000 Kurdish men and women, along with foreign volunteers, have joined YPG units to fight against Islamic State in northern Syria.

British police have “repeatedly warned” against travelling to Syria, and have also advised that any involvement with an armed group “could lead to arrest and prosecution”, the BBC adds.