National Post (National Edition)
Canadian killed fighting ISIL in Syria
TORONTO • Eager to “do something about the scourge of ISIS,” Nazzareno Tassone left Edmonton in late June and made his way to Syria to join Kurdish fighters on the frontlines against the terrorist group.
In updates he sent to friends on Facebook, the former parking lot company employee spoke about the camaraderie he had found among the Kurds and international volunteers, and posted photos of himself in his battle gear.
“He expressed great pride in what he was doing and said that no matter how tense things got, he was not going to leave his brothers,” said Mike Webster, a former Canadian reservist who was in regular contact with Tassone.
But on Dec. 22, an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant propaganda outfit posted photos of the bodies of two Western-looking fighters it said had been killed in western Syria. One of them looked like Tassone.
On Tuesday, the Kurdish YPG militia announced that Tassone had indeed died on Dec. 21, along with a British volunteer fighter, Ryan Lock. Those familiar with the incident said their position had been overrun by ISIL.
The 23-year-old is the second Canadian volunteer fighter to die in Syria, after John Robert Gallagher was killed on Nov. 4, 2015, while fighting with a secretive unit of all-Western fighters called the 223, led by an American veteran.
Originally from Keswick, Ont., Tassone studied at a Catholic high school in Niagara Falls and had wanted to join the Canadian military. On Facebook, he posted excerpts of a novel depicting a future war that saw Canada “in utter devastation.”
He had also reflected on death, writing that, “We have all experienced death. There is that one day in the year when we take a day and remember that person; we laugh, we cry, we have happy moments, we have sad moments.”
On June 24, he posted a photo of himself in what looked like a bar, wearing a Toronto Raptors T-shirt. “Hey all from Turkey,” he wrote. His posts indicated he had travelled from Edmonton to Toronto, Frankfurt and Istanbul.
Two sources told the National Post they later met Tassone in Syria.
“I spoke to him regularly while he was there and I can tell you that he was motivated by a desire to do something about the scourge of ISIS and was inspired by other Canadians who had done so,” Webster said.
He was “basically functioning as a infantryman. He was equipped with an AK type of rifle and MARPAT (Marine pattern) cammo gear. He was involved in the fight for Manbij and spoke of losing several friends to suicide bombers. He expressed great pride in becoming a sniper and, as of when we last spoke, had 20 confirmed kills.”
Exactly what happened on Dec. 21 remains unclear. “As far as I understand it there was a large Daesh (ISIL) attack, he fought, and was killed,” one of Tassone’s acquaintances told the Post. The statement from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, called Tassone and Lock heroes and martyrs.
The ISIL propaganda outfit Amaq reported that two “Western soldiers” had been killed near the village of Ja’bir, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. Photos of the bodies of the so-called “Crusaders” were posted online, with captions claiming they had died “in the ongoing battles” in Western Raqqah province.
Several Kurdish fighters were also killed, as well as Lock, 20, from Chichester, West Sussex. The Guardian newspaper reported that a letter sent to Lock’s family had said he had died in the “dark hours” of Dec. 21 in Jaeber village along with four others.
The Briton had joined the YPG in September. He had no prior military experience. At one point, Tassone and Lock were photographed together, both of them smiling in their camouflage outfits, a mosque dome visible in the background.
Hundreds of international volunteers, including dozens of Canadians, have made their way to Syria and Iraq to help Kurdish forces battle ISIL. Many are veterans frustrated over the West’s limited military response to the Syrian conflict. A family spokesman said Tassone had not served in the Canadian Forces.
Tassone and Lock are part of a new generation of volunteer fighters who have strong ideals but little military experience, said Guillaume Corneau, a Laval University Quebec student who has been studying foreign fighters embedded with Kurdish forces.
After training at the YPG academy, they had volunteered with a frontline combat unit. “The cause of their death is rather nebulous. They seemed to be on an advanced post on the frontline when they were attacked at night,” he said.
“The Islamic State would have taken the position, which would explain why they were in possession of the bodies. Everything seems to indicate that the YPG have paid to get the bodies back,” he said, which would explain why it took the Kurdish forces two weeks to announce the deaths.