Body Parts, Bloody Battles and Being One of the Boys: Model who Went to Fight ISIS in Syria Reveals Horrors She Saw on the Frontline
- Tiger Sun, 46, gave up her life in Canada and went to Syria in March to fight Islamic State jihadis
- She worked as a 'spotter' for Kurdish troops, using binoculars she identified jihadis for snipers to take out
- The former model told how the sight of bodies don't 'haunt' her and how she once ate her lunch next to a 'pile of brains'
- Despite being a stunning blonde she said she was treated in battle like 'one of the boys'
Daily Mail UK, 6 July 2015
Former model Tiger Sun (pictured), who grew up in Canada and has asked for her real name not be published, has spoken exclusively to MailOnline about bloody battles and killing jihadis.
Earlier this year she decided to leave the comforts of home and head to the Middle East. With no training, other than how to fire a weapon (inset), Tiger was soon on the front line.
A former model who swapped her comfortable life to fight ISIS in Syria has told of the horrors of her time in battle on the frontline.
Stunning Tiger Sun said she saw a little girl, who had been blown up by a landmine, die because the Kurds have no medical training.
She also revealed how, on patrol, she trod on a charred finger and looked round - but couldn’t find the body it belonged to.
The former model, 46, fought jihadist fighters from Islamic State for four months with the Kurdish YPJ (People's Protection Units), until her legs buckled under the weight of her kit and malnutrition forced her to return home to Canada.
Fierce fighter: Tiger Sun, 46, left Canada in March to fight with the Kurdish People's Protections Units in Syria
Armed: With little training, Tiger began fighting on the front line alongside Kurdish troops and Westerners
Biker chick: Motorcycle fan Tiger left her friends and family in Canada to fight ISIS in Syria earlier this year
Tiger revealed that while women fight alongside male soldiers, sexual relationships do happen, although they are kept secret.
But she said despite being a stunning ex-model she was treated as an equal during battle.
In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Tiger said: 'I witnessed things I never could have imagined.
‘I stepped on a finger once - it was charred black and bent at a weird angle. The body it came from was nowhere in sight.
‘I watched a little girl die from her injuries from a landmine explosion because the Kurds have no medical training or equipment.’
The mother-of-one, who was born in Zambia, left Vancouver, Canada, for the battlefields of the Middle East after a Lebanese man she was in a relationship with left her for an arranged marriage.
She also saw an ISIS propaganda video featuring John McGuire, a white convert jihadist, from Ottawa, and it prompted her to go and fight.
Family: Tiger has a daughter but says she was most worried about telling her mother she was going to fight
Lookout: Although she never killed a jihadi herself, Tiger says she was contributed to deaths of ISIS fighters
On March 1 she left behind her grown up daughter from a previous relationship and flew to Iraq where she was smuggled through the country and into Syria.
With no real training other than how to fire a gun, she was thrust straight into battle.
'Did I see violence? Did I see ISIS kill innocent people? Yes, I was in the fight. I saw them trying to kill us. We see Daesh (ISIS), we kill Daesh, and that's about it. It's actually quite simple.
I had lunch by a pile of brains once. It was no big deal
'To be honest, the bodies don't haunt me. The friends I lost do make me sad though, and the unfairness of it all upsets me.
'When I saw friends killed I cried a little, but you just have to accept that this happens in war,' she explained. 'It's incredibly unfair but it's the reality in those circumstances.
'It still makes me cry when I think about it.
'Yazidis, Arabs, Kurds. Everyone has lost someone it seems. Many join the YPG or YPJ for revenge, or because they no longer have a family.
'They seem to hide their mourning though. I rarely ever saw anyone cry.'
Modelling: Tiger Sun worked in fashion and corporate modelling until 2006 and now lives in Vancouver
Life in Canada: As well as being a model, Tiger Sun says she's worked in sales, factories and the film industry
Biker: Tiger Sun is now back home in Vancouver where she enjoys riding motorbikes and photography
Tiger witnessed death and destruction every day while fighting ISIS.
In June her group seized control of Tal Abyad – in the north of Syria, close to the border with Turkey – a key town used by ISIS to exports goods such as black market oil into eastern Syria.
The person in the trench next to you could be a guy or a girl and it makes no difference. They're soldiers first. Not once did I feel harassed, objectified or in danger when I was around the men
In battle Tiger fought with a woman who shot 28 jihadists dead – although she never killed anyone herself.
‘They were always just out of range,’ she said. ‘I brought my own pair of binoculars with me because they weren’t readily available, so I was doing a lot of the spotting, which led to kills.
‘I would go and look at the bodies afterwards, but it didn't and still doesn't bother me. I had lunch by a pile of brains once. It was no big deal.
‘However, I saw those who did kill someone go through a whole range of emotions, like elation, then guilt, and I realised if I did kill someone directly, I may obsess about it and ruin the rest of my life.’
Tiger said she wasn’t sexually harassed and didn’t feel objectified because she was treated ‘just like one of boys’ - as men and women are treated as equal on the front line.
Quote:
DOZENS OF WESTERNERS JOIN KURDISH TROOPS TO FIGHT ISLAMIC STATE
Dozens of western fighters - many of them ex-soldiers in the British and America armies - have volunteered to join Kurdish troops battling ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
As many of the Kurdish fighters do not speak English, the foreign soldiers usually form new English-language regiments.
The majority of the Western fighters travelling to the Middle East to battle ISIS have joined the YPG or YPJ (People's Protection Units) - Kurdish militia who are based in northern Syria.
Western fighters: Westerners have joined Kurdish troops, including American Jordan Matson (pictured)
Perhaps the most famous of the YPG-affiliated foreign legions is the so-called 'Lions of Rojava', whose flag Western soldiers such as Britons Jamie Read and James Hughes, and Americans Jordan Matson and Joshua Bell, are believed to have fought under.
Other Westerners are known to have joined the Peshmerga forces fighting ISIS over the border in northern Iraq.
To protect their identities and build loyalty among the group, the Westerners all adopt Kurdish nom de guerres while fighting alongside local forces.
These pseudonyms typically include the word 'Heval' which means friend in Kurdish.
There is often confusion in the West about the Kurdish fighters battling ISIS, not least because the Kurdish word for a military force is 'peshmerga', which translates as 'those who confront death'.
While the YPG in Syria is therefore technically peshmerga, the Kurdish military in neighbouring Iraq is actually called Peshmerga.
American who joined Kurdish militants to battle ISIS;
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YPJ fighters: Tiger took this picture of Heval Arjin searching for grenades in a trunk filled with weapons
Deceptive: Tiger took this photo of Heval Saleen and Heval Arjin, but warns: 'Don't be fooled. These girls are killers'
Strike a pose: Tiger took this picture of Heval Souzda with her weapon while she was in Syria fighting ISIS
‘The person in the trench next to you could be a guy or a girl and it makes no difference. They're soldiers first. Not once did I feel harassed, objectified or in danger when I was around the men.
‘When people join the YPJ/YPG, they commit completely to it. There's no time for anything else.
I love the people and I'm worried about my friends. It also turns out that I really like the fighting
‘This was a problem for some of the western guys who wanted to get it on with the girls,’ she said. ‘An American kept complaining about how cold the girls were. I told him to stop disrespecting them with his flirting.
‘Flirting is a way of gaining control and that's not part of their (Kurdish) culture.'
‘A YPG soldier explained to me that in a society where the men elevate themselves, the women get left behind, but in their society where the women are elevated, the men get elevated with them,’ she said.
Weapons: Tiger Sun was taught how to fire a weapon, but received no other training before heading to the front line
‘It's very close to a matriarchal society. It was normal for a 17-year-old-girl to be in charge of an entire guard watch of men.’
Suffering from malnutrition, having lost nearly two and a half stone due to a vegetarian diet and no protein, Tiger left Syria a week ago.
She said after three months fighting, most westerners 'hit a wall' – and have to take a break.
'We lose too much weight and strength and have to leave. Some go to Erbil in Iraq to regain strength, some go home.
'I had become too weak. When we were taking the bridge leading into Tal Abyad, I had to jump down a ledge and my legs gave out under the weight of my gear.
Front line: Tiger fought with both male YPG and fellow female YPJ fighters, who lived side-by-side in Syria
Friends: Tiger pictured with Heval Berxodan, who's known to fellow fighters as the Dutch falcon of Rojava
'Another girl tried to help me up and that's when I realised I had become a detriment. I wouldn't want someone else to get hurt while trying to help me.'
But Tiger is one of the lucky ones who survived long enough in Iraq or Syria to get home.
Keith Broomfield, from Massachusetts, became the first American volunteer to die battling ISIS on June 3.
Reece Harding, an Australian who was fighting with Kurdish forces in Syria, also died in June when he stepped on a mine.
They died along with Ashley Johnston, from Australia, British fighter Konstantinos Scurfield, who died in March and 19-year-old German Ivana Hoffmann, who lost her life during battle in Tel Tamr.
Hobbies: Tiger Sun is back in Canada and is staying with a friend while she recovers from malnutrition
Flying high: Tiger flying a plane in Canada before she left for Syria. She must now decide whether to return
Tiger is now back home recovering while she considers a return to Syria.
But she’s not scared of ISIS, whom she described as ‘a bunch of little men with crazy beards.’
'All I saw were a bunch of social misfits pretending to be something bigger than they really were. They use fear tactics to scare people, but in reality they're not that intimidating.’
She added: ‘I love the YPJ and all the friends I made. I love the people and I'm worried about my friends. It also turns out that I really like the fighting.’
'Did I see violence? Did I see ISIS kill innocent people? Yes, I was in the fight. I saw them trying to kill us,' she said before adding: 'I had lunch by a pile of brains once. It was no big deal'