MY WAR ON ISIS
Former Scots soldier is back fighting on the frontline in Syria
A SCOTS ex-soldier has told how he joined a Syrian militia in their battle to retake Isis’s last stronghold.
Kevin Benton’s family thought he was abroad volunteering as a medic.
But the 25-year-old walks every night into the firing line of terrorists to dismantle bombs.
EVERY night, Kevin Benton and his team creep into Isis territory in the Syrian city of Raqqa.
The Scot has spent the last six months on the frontline, where he heads a “clearance unit” responsible for deactivating improvised explosive devices and killing jihadi snipers.
Describing one recent mission, the 25-year-old said: “We were ambushed twice in one night in the same area.
“Isis fighters were in higher buildings and had the vantage point. They were so close to us, it was terrifying.
“It was actually a cat that saved us. It ran out from a doorway and my eye was drawn to the movement.
“That night, six Isis fighters died and one was wounded.
“I was hit under the arm by the enemy when we were peeling back. I’ve also been hit in the leg.
“I’ll have to get shrapnel removed when I go home.”
Kevin, of Kelso, Roxburghshire, served in the Royal Regiment of Scotland for four years.
He enlisted in the Syrian Democratic Forces – a group of Christian, Arab and Kurdish militias – after telling his parents he was going overseas to volunteer as a medic.
Kevin uses skills he honed in the British Army to train his fellow troops, who come from across the world.
One of their main roles is clearing the streets of Raqqa of booby traps and tackling enemy snipers hidden in “murder holes”, paving the way for fresh offensives the next day.
Speaking from the frontline, Kevin told the Record: “I’m in charge of a team who clear the route of mines and anything else that could endanger our forces pushing forward.
“I’ve been training the other lads in how to spot hidden explosives.
“Night operations are extremely dangerous. We can hardly see the ground and we can’t see if people are sneaking up on us. Some of us don’t have night vision or thermal scopes on our rifles.”
Jihadis, including fighters from Britain, Australia and the United States, scuttle around Raqqa like rats in an elaborate tunnel network.
Former squaddie Kevin and his unit face nightly Isis attacks, including the constant threat of being blasted by SPG-9 rocket launchers and Soviet-era anti-aircraft cannons.
However, the biggest danger for his men are armoured suicide trucks, which are capable of demolishing entire buildings.
Recalling a sniper operation, Kevin said: “We suddenly heard a car coming and I knew it was a car bomb.
“We were on the fourth floor on the north side of a building. The vehicle rushed towards the building and exploded, ripping through the other side and destroying the stairs.
“That was the first time I started to get nervous going on operations.”
Stories like this do nothing to ease the fears of Kevin’s parents and two sisters, who live in Kelso.
His mother Pamela, 50, a nurse, said: “When I don’t hear from him, I worry – but Kevin believes very strongly in what he’s doing.
“He’s one of those people who you respect because he is so passionate about the things he believes in.
“Kevin is a soldier and he feels that he is doing his job by helping these people to the best of his ability. He is not the kind of person to sit back without trying to help a person in need when he feels he can do something about it.”
His father Iain, a salesman, added: “I found out Kevin was in Syria four days after he left to work in Iraq. I felt totally gutted as he didn’t tell me the truth.
“I was so worried about him, it made me ill. I have worried about Kevin every day and night since I found out where he was.”
Kevin’s sister Rebecca, a 22-year-old care assistant, said she is proud of her brother despite initially thinking he’d made the wrong decision.
She said: “I’m actually really proud of my brother for doing
something that he believes is right. He’s helping people in the only way he believes that he can.”
Kevin, who served in the Army from September 2011 until September 2015, contracted malaria while helping to contain the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone.
After leaving the Army, he worked in security and as a bouncer. But following a series of terror attacks across Europe, he was inspired to join the fight against Isis.
Kevin said: “I came to Syria because it was my way to help.
“After the spate of attacks in Europe, I felt I had to come – and when Isis attacked France, I knew it was only a matter of time before they’d hit the UK. “I wanted to stop anything terrible from happening. I love my country and where I come from – this was my way of protecting it.”
The young Scot is one of just of a handful of Brits fighting inside Raqqa.
His comrades include Jack Holmes, a former IT worker from Bournemouth, who narrowly escaped death last month after Isis fighters surrounded his position for 12 hours.
Mobile phone reception is bad but Kevin has been updating friends and family through Twitter. His tweets reveal the bloody reality of the brutal streetto-street war against Isis.
A month ago, Kevin wrote: “I got shot in the arm and leg last week. And today at the hospital the doctor told me it’s fine to have a bullet in my leg.”
In June, he described carrying out a medical procedure for the first time.
He said: “I put my first IV drip into someone’s arm and left the tap open. Blood everywhere but I helped him out in the end.”
Kevin’s family are worried he might face questioning when he returns to Britain.
In April, Josh Walker, 26, from Bristol, was charged under the Terrorism Act after returning from fighting Isis in Syria.
Pamela said: “I know that he will have to be debriefed by the authorities as he could have some information that could prove useful.
“But I hope that they know he has not been doing anything against his own country.
“This might not be what I wanted him to do – but you have to allow your children to live their lives knowing they have your support and love.”
Kevin plans to travel home in the coming weeks amid hopes that the SDF will soon liberate Raqqa.
He admitted: “I am a little bit worried about being arrested but I know I have done good for the world.
“If British law thinks differently, shame on them, but I will have to wait and see.”
Kevin is looking forward to spending time with his friends and family again.
He said: “I miss a lot of things from back home. I miss my dogs, my family and my friends.
“I’m looking forward to going for a meal with my family and going out with my pals.
“The fact that I knew people were worried about me back home made me miss them a lot.”
KEVIN BENTON