TRIBUTES have been paid after an international volunteer was killed fighting with the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG) during a battle with Isis in northern Syria.

Farid Medjahed — known as Sahin Qerecox — fell on October 6 in the town of Hajin in Deir al-Zour province as YPG forces pushed towards the last remaining jihadist stronghold in northern Syria.

In a statement the YPG offered condolences to the family of French-born Mr Medjahed and promised to “continue to wage a relentless struggle against every manifestation of terrorism and ensure the safety and future of this region.”

A friend of Mr Medjahed, who did not wish to be named, said: “I will never forget his brave actions and efforts fighting for a world he knew was possible. One free from oppression, patriarchy and ecocide where people live co-operatively in the spirit of mutual aid instead of being made atomised and afraid by capitalism. 

“He was always willing to risk repression or police violence defending what he believed in. In Hambach Forest, Germany, he never hesitated putting himself in harm’s way to stop the exploitation and destruction of the Earth.”

Operation Cizre Storm began on September 10 to defeat the last pockets of Isis resistance in northern Syria.