Tributes flow for ex-Australian soldier Jamie Bright, killed fighting ISIS in Syria

JAMIE Bright, the ex-ADF soldier killed fighting ISIS in Syria, had no plans to return to Australia, a man who served with him on the frontline has revealed.

Ex-Australian soldier Jamie Bright had been fighting with the People’s Protection Units of Kurdish Syria.

THE Australian man who has been named by Kurdish forces as having died while helping them fight the Islamic State had “flown under the radar”, with only few knowing he was in Syria.

Ex-Australian soldier Jamie Bright, aged in his mid-40s, has been named by the YPG, or the People’s Protection Units of Kurdish Syria, as having been “martyred against ISIS”.

It is not known whether Mr Bright’s family in Western Australia has been informed of his death. He is understood to be divorced, with an adult son.

It is believed Mr Bright, who was given the name “Jabar” by the Kurds, died of gunshot wounds last Wednesday, according to his YPG colleagues.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is yet to confirm his death, but an Australian who fought alongside him in Syria told News Corp his friend was definitely dead.

“He was shot about three or four days ago,” the source said. “I’ve had it confirmed.”

The friend said that Mr Bright was fighting for justice for the Kurdish people, whose lands in northern Syria are overrun by ISIS.

Kurdish fighters fire an antitank cannon on the front line near Hasan Sham village, some 45 kilometres east of the city of Mosul, during an operation aimed at retaking areas from the Islamic State group on May 29. Picture: AFP / Safin Hamed

“He saw something was happening that wasn’t right and wanted to fix it,” said the friend.

“He saw governments doing nothing. He saw it as wrong and believed it had to be changed.

“He’s been flying under the radar for such a long a time. We kept it really, really quiet and I don’t think the AFP (Australian Federal Police) knew he was there.

“He didn’t even have Facebook. He just rocked up in Turkey, said he wanted to join the YPG.”

The friend said Mr Bright crossed over into Syria from Turkey in January 2015, choosing a different route to most of the foreign anti-ISIS fighters, who typically fly to northern Iraq to make contact with the Kurds.

“He told me that when was crossing the border there were rounds fired off by the Turks at them, but he got smuggled across the border,” the friend said. “He just rocked up and found the right people.

“He’s one of the nicest guys you’d ever meet. Laid back, casual, the classic Australian overseas. A decent bloke.”

It is possible Mr Bright was involved in the current attack on the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, where Kurdish forces are being assisted on the ground by US special operatives.

Smoke billows on the front line as an Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighter holds a position near Hasan Sham. Picture: AFP / Safin Hamed

“He was absolutely staunch,” said the friend of Mr Bright’s commitment to the Kurdish cause.

“He was respectful of their culture and they loved him. He lost his passport about a year ago but said, ‘F*%$ it, I’m staying here.’”

Mr Bright is understood to have gone through his training as an engineer with the ADF is the late 1980s. Though trained in weaponry, his army trade was as a painter and decorator.

“He had balls of steel,” said the friend.

In April 2015, Mr Bright did some brief posting on Google+, in which he said he was new to social media.

“I would love to keep writing to you all, however today I’m heading back to Rojava,” he wrote, referring to the Kurdish-claimed area of northern Syria.

“I will try to keep in touch with you all. Internet is difficult to access in forward areas.”

Of the Kurds, he wrote: “I can honestly say that if the world had more people like you in it, then the world would be a better place. And that is the God’s honest truth.”

Australians face arrest if they return home, no matter which side they are fighting for, although no Australian who has fought against ISIS is yet to go to trial or be sentenced.

Mr Bright is believed to have grown up in the central NSW town of Hay.

Mr Bright is the third Australian to be killed fighting with the Kurds, alongside Reece Harding from the Gold Coast and Ashley Johnston, from the ACT.