The American had been in the country only a few weeks, and had just stood his ground in a firefight with the Islamic State. Instead, Shirley last year joined with other Westerners in traveling to the Middle East to fight Islamic State militants in Syria with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). In a statement released through the YPG, Gifford recalled meeting Shirley in the Syrian town of Tel Tamar. He introduces himself as Jack, and says he traveled to Syria to do his part to stop the Islamic State, he said. On Thursday, the YPG announced that Shirley, just short of his 25th birthday, was killed July 14 in a battle with the Islamic State.

Source: Washington Post July 21, 2016 20:24 UTC