Two Americans killed battling ISIS in Syria

Source: Washington Post

Two Americans fighting alongside Kurdish forces in northern Syria were killed last week as the battle to retake the Islamic State’s de-facto capital there continues well into its second month.

Nicholas Warden, 29, and Robert Grodt, 28, died last week on the outskirts of Raqqa, according to U.S. officials and a statement released by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, known as the YPG. Neither appeared to have had any prior formal military experience. Another westerner, a British man named Luke Rutter, was also killed in the fighting, the statement said.

In a video posted by the YPG, Warden said he was from Buffalo and traveled to join the YPG in February to fight the Islamic State because of the attacks inspired by the terrorist group in places such as San Bernardino and Orlando. He said he had also received some military training from the group.

Grodt, a onetime volunteer medic from the Occupy Wall Street movement, had also traveled to join the YPG around the same time, according to Ron Kuby, a family friend and lawyer. Grodt was originally from California. Grodt’s mother, Tammy, confirmed that she had received notification of his death but has heard little else about how he died.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/07/11/two-american-foreign-fighters-killed-battling-isis-in-syria/?utm_term=.caafe915214f