One of the most remarkable mechanized campaigns of recent years pitted the brutal and heavily armed jihadis of Islamic State against an improvised force belonging to the Kurdish YPG (later the SDF). While some Kurdish vehicles were originally from Syrian Army stocks or captured from ISIS, many others were extraordinary homemade AFVs based on truck or digger mechanicals, or duskas, the Kurds' version of the technical. Before US air power was sent to Syria, these were the Kurds' most powerful and mobile weapons. Co-written by a British volunteer who fought with the Kurds and an academic expert on armoured warfare, this study explains how the Kurds built and used their AFVs in the war against 'Daesh', and identifies as far as possible which vehicles took part in major battles, such as Kobane, Manbij and Raqqa. With detailed new artwork depicting the Kurds' range of armour and many previously unpublished photos, this is an original and fascinating look at modern improvised mechanized warfare.
One of the most remarkable mechanized campaigns of recent years pitted the brutal and heavily armed jihadis of Islamic State against an improvised force belonging to the Kurdish YPG (later the SDF). While some Kurdish vehicles were originally from Syrian Army stocks or captured from ISIS, many others were extraordinary homemade AFVs based on truck or digger mechanicals, or duskas, the Kurds' version of the technical. Before US air power was sent to Syria, these were the Kurds' most powerful and mobile weapons. Co-written by a British volunteer who fought with the Kurds and an academic expert on armoured warfare, this study explains how the Kurds built and used their AFVs in the war against 'Daesh', and identifies as far as possible which vehicles took part in major battles, such as Kobane, Manbij and Raqqa. With detailed new artwork depicting the Kurds' range of armour and many previously unpublished photos, this is an original and fascinating look at modern improvised mechanized warfare.
Since March 2015, photographer and author Joey L. has gained unprecedented access to Kurdish guerrilla organizations fighting against ISIS, embedding himself into the chaos of the Iraq and Syrian Civil War on three separate trips. Three components meld to create an extraordinarily brave and important documentation: his medium format portrait photography, a written study of the history of the turmoil that led to the rise of armed Kurdish militias, and intimate journal notes of vivid personal experiences while working as a photographer in the war. The war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria has flooded our daily news with troubling statistics of massacres and mass migrations, yet there are faces and human stories at the heart of the conflict. Joey writes, "From Iraq, one crosses the Tigris River into war-torn Syria, and is catapulted into a worldview crafted by the guerrilla. You are welcomed back by familiar faces wearing a palette of earth tones interrupted by a brightly colored scarf - likely given to them by their mothers. Conversations over cigarettes and tea with much too much sugar often drift to conspiracy theories about the entire world plotting to destroy their cause. Oddly, they begin to make sense. The guerrilla's secretive hierarchy vanishes due to its compartmentalization, and you find yourself among individual Kurds who left their families with the intention of defending their culture and way of life. We had once again entered the world of the Kurdish guerrilla." During his travels, Joey observed ragtag volunteer guerrilla fighters with mysterious links to the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) grow into a fully functional army and the US-led coalitions most trusted partner--Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). With little official government support and just light weapons; brothers, sisters, former university students and refugees that once fled from their homes have now taken up arms together against a common enemy--radical jihadist groups that contest the secular social reformations in Kurdistan. Joey's uncanny ability to gain trust and his fearless and open attitude to the unexpected, combined with his genuine love for his subjects and their quest for independence gives We Came from Firea deeply felt sense of humanity.
The Kurds, although a courageous people, have been, until recently, little known beyond the Kurdish mountains. Before the invasion of northern Iraq by ISIS in 2014 few people in the West knew where Kurdistan was as a country, and even fewer had heard of Peshmerga as a fighting force. This has now changed. With the appearance of ISIS Peshmerga was catapulted onto the world stage as a courageous and capable military force, a main contributor to the downfall of the Islamic State.Despite its significance however, in both Kurdish as well as English, very little has been written about the Kurdish army. Countless works have been published, giving detailed accounts of the social, economic, geographic, political, religious and historical background of Kurdistan, but very little on Peshmerga itself. There is no official history of Peshmerga, no standard work informing the general reader of the development and role of the Kurdish army. This book is an attempt to fill that gap. It is important to stress this book is not a history of the Kurdish people. Instead it is an account - the first account ever written - of the Kurdish fighting spirit which first emerged in the ancient world, and later developed during the Kurd's struggles under Islamic rulers and against later regimes, particularly the Ottoman and British Empires. The central theme of the book is the development of Peshmerga from tribal militias; to a mountain based Guerrilla force which could hold its own often against much larger, and better equipped, Iraqi armies sent against it. This partisan force later became the modern "battlefield", western trained, army of today. This theme is inextricably linked with the Kurdish struggle for independence in the face of ongoing western promises of hope then betrayal and disappointment. Particular attention is given to the short-lived Kurdish republic in Mahabad, Iran, in 1946 under Qazi Muhammad and the subsequent famous march to Russia by Mulla Mustafa Barzani and the legendary "500" Peshmerga in 1947; the 14 July revolution in 1958; the Iraqi-Kurdish wars of the 1960's and 70's and the defeat of the Kurds (mainly due to American and Iranian betrayal) following the Algiers Accord 1975. The role of Peshmerga in the Iran-Iraq War, and against Saddam Hussein (particularly the brutal Anfal campaign) are discussed in detail. Attention is also given to the significant role of Peshmerga in the two Gulf Wars and the tragedy of the Kurdish civil war in the mid-1990s. The emergence and development of the KDP under Mustafa Barzani and later his son Masoud Barzani, and the PUK under Jalal Talabani (the two dominant political groups in Kurdistan) is an important thread of this Peshmerga story. In the post-Saddam era the book looks at the fight by Peshmerga against the militant Islamic group Ansar al Islam, which gave the Kurds and Iraqis a foretaste, albeit much smaller, of the devastating brutality of the so called Islamic State. An entire chapter is given to women Peshmerga and the significant contribution made by female fighters to the development of Kurdish military capability.The author lived for three years in Kurdistan and Iraq gathering information for this book. Drawing on direct contact with Peshmerga (he interviewed hundreds of Kurdish soldiers from infantrymen to Generals); living with Peshmerga on the front-line, and knowing many of the leading military commanders and Kurdish politicians (both KDP and PUK), the author (as an experienced journalist and academic writer) considers, not only the tumultuous history of Peshmerga, but also its significance, role and its ongoing needs. As such the author lets Peshmergas speak for themselves and tell their own unique and exciting story.
A visceral, riveting, no-holds-barred military memoir told from the front line of the war against ISIS with a foreword by Andy McNab. In the summer of 2014 the world watched in horror as the black flag of ISIS swept all before it. Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq fell, ISIS proclaimed the caliphate and the horror mounted: from the mass murder, rape and enslavement of the Yazidis to the public beheading of journalists by British jihadis. For Macer Gifford it wasn't enough to ask why more wasn't being done, he knew he had to act. So, he left his job in the city, split from his girlfriend and a few weeks later found himself illegally crossing the border into Syria to join the Kurdish YPG in their fight against the savagery of ISIS. Macer Gifford became one of longest serving British International Volunteers and one of the only few to be promoted to be a Commander in the YPG. He fought alongside the Kurds (and their Syrian Allies) for three long tours of duty from the dawn of the caliphate all the way to its military defeat in the ruins of Raqqa in 2017, sniping at the final deadly wave of suicide bombers as they burst from the rubble. Along the way, he made - and lost - many friends. This is the only complete account of the war against the Caliphate by the Kurds and the remarkable and often eccentric band of international volunteers who fought alongside them.
In 1991, Coalition special forces were active deep inside Iraq, hunting down SCUD missile launchers before they could be fired. In 2011, US Navy SEALs were responsible for the assassination of the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden. In 2014, the US Delta Force captured Libyan terrorist Ahmed Abu Khattala, wanted for the attack on the US embassy in Benghazi in 2012. Over the last 25 years elite military formations have played an increasingly important role in the policing of the world's trouble spots, including rescuing hostages in Afghanistan and fighting Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. Special Forces in Action is a detailed account of the operations of the world's special forces from 1991 to the present day. From the Gulf War to the invasion of Iraq, via the war in Afghanistan, the search for war criminals in the Balkans, drug gang hunting in South America, hostage rescues in Africa, and the counter-terrorist initiatives since 9/11, the book brings the reader full details of the often clandestine and varied roles of the world's elite soldiers. Authoritatively written and illustrated with more than 180 photographs and artworks, Special Forces in Action is an expert account of how the world's special forces have become a vital arm of the modern military machine.
Former British soldier Jim Matthews gives up a lucrative career teaching English in Saudi Arabia, and returns to northern Syria to fight ISIS alongside the Kurdish forces. But why, after years as a revolutionary, left-leaning, anti-war protester does he find himself pulled once more into a conflict zone. Does he miss war? Jim is attracted by what he calls the Kurds' "Democratic Confederalism: " 'a grassroots political system, where everyone had fair and equal representation in social decision-making.' But he is never quite convinced of his own reasons for going to Iraq. He is no cold avenger, righter of wrongs or money-grabbing mercenary. In fact, he remains apart from those around him and more in conflict with himself, even when recalling his activities in Palestine. For Jim the real conflict is within himself. An intelligent and evocatively written memoir, that makes the war zones and broken, twisted, dusty battlefields and border towns of northern Syria spring to life.
This book charts the history of armoured warfare from the first use of the tank in 1916 right through to the 21st century, adopting military, political and global perspectives. Alaric Searle explores the origins of the tank, the part it played in the First World War and its contribution to the outcome of the war. He considers its role as a tool of propaganda, the military controversies of the interwar period and the employment of armoured forces in all the major theatres in the Second World War. Since the First World War, major and medium-sized powers have invested heavily in armoured forces. Searle looks at the conduct of mechanised warfare in Korea, Indo-China and Vietnam, and during conflicts such as the Arab-Israeli Wars and the Gulf Wars. Armoured Warfare adopts a global perspective, providing the most comprehensive survey of the history of the subject currently available. With a detailed bibliography of both primary and secondary sources, it is an ideal companion for those studying armoured warfare, modern military history and war studies.
Over the last 30 years, the 'technical' or armed pick-up truck has become arguably the most ubiquitous military land vehicle of modern warfare. Harking back to the armed Jeeps and Chevrolet trucks of the SAS and Long Range Desert Group in North Africa in World War II, the world's first insurgent technicals were those of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army in Algeria in the late 1970s, followed by the Chadian use of technical in the so-called Toyota War against Libya. Since then, technicals have seen use in Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, as well as being used by Western and Russian Special Forces. Fully illustrated with commissioned artwork and providing rigorous analysis, this is the first history of how this deceptively simple fighting vehicle has been used and developed in conflicts worldwide.
