A former public schoolboy who gave up his high-flying City career to fight against Islamic State has told of his part in the dramatic battle to liberate the jihadis’ Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.
Macer Gifford, 30 – believed to have been the only UK national to fight in the battle for the city – was a currency trader before he joined Syrian rebel groups. Last night he exclusively revealed how:
- He narrowly escaped death in an IS ambush which killed two of his comrades.
- Evil jihadis used babies as ‘human shields’, dangling them from windows of their base to stop Mr Gifford and his comrades firing at them.
- British SAS troops devised a smartphone app that helped the Briton and rebel fighters pinpoint enemy targets for air strikes.
- He now fears he will be arrested by British police because he feels the Government is tougher on those who fought IS than the actual terrorists – last week the UK anti- terror watchdog called for ‘naive’ jihadis to be reintegrated into society.
In 2014, Mr Gifford watched with horror the TV reports of IS atrocities, including the beheading of UK hostages by British fanatic ‘Jihadi John’. He ignored the pleas of his family and friends not to go to the warzone as he had no military experience.
Macer Gifford, 30 – believed to have been the only UK national to fight in the battle for the city – was a currency trader before he joined Syrian rebel groups
Mr Gifford fought IS as an unpaid volunteer for three years and his remarkable experiences culminated in the battle for Raqqa – the capital city of the jihadis’ so-called caliphate.
During IS’s reign of terror, Raqqa was the scene of horrific public executions, while men thought to be gay were thrown to their deaths from rooftops.
Mr Gifford, who attended £23,000-a-year Kimbolton School in Cambridgeshire, told The Mail on Sunday how he took part in terrifying close-quarter battles in Raqqa in which he almost died.
He said: ‘On the night of September 16, I was on a nine-man night patrol in central Raqqa with soldiers from the Syriac Military Council and the YPG, a Syrian rebel force. Around 3am, we met a man who pleaded with us to rescue women and children trapped in the remains of a bomb-damaged building.
'In fact, he wanted to entice us into an area where IS snipers could shoot at us. Suddenly enemy bullets were ricocheted off the road at my feet and rocket propelled grenades were fizzing narrowly over my head. I was shot.
‘An enemy round ripped through my webbing pouches and the magazines of ammunition I was carrying in a belt around my waist. Luckily the round then ricocheted off my body armour. So I wasn’t even wounded. My dear Kurdish friends Ocalan and Demhat were not so lucky.
Mr Gifford, who attended £23,000-a-year Kimbolton School in Cambridgeshire, told The Mail on Sunday how he took part in terrifying close-quarter battles in Raqqa in which he almost died
‘Ocalan was shot several times and died at the scene. Demhat was shot through the back and losing a lot of blood when I found him.
‘I told our commanders he needed emergency medical treatment but they said our position was surrounded by jihadis and we would have to wait where we were for supporting troops to arrive. Demhat died in my arms. I was holding his hand trying to comfort him.
‘Demhat and Ocalan were only 20 years old and had fought so hard for so long to bring about the defeat of IS in Raqqa and had survived until so close to the end.’
In the last few weeks of fighting, Mr Gifford also witnessed the sickening tactics of the last remaining IS fighters. About 300 jihadis were mounting a last stand from the city’s National Hospital.
In a bid to deter Mr Gifford and his colleagues from shooting at them, they would appear at the windows of the hospital while holding babies.
Mr Gifford learned that IS had taken other patients hostage and were holding them at gunpoint inside the hospital. IS used these patients as bargaining chips in a deal which saw them leave Raqqa.
He said: ‘The jihadis used new-born infants as human shields. Their disregard for human life knew no bounds. I’d never seen such contempt for humanity. Likewise taking the patients hostage. IS are cowards. So much for their determination to fight to the last man to protect their caliphate.
‘By that stage, they were doing anything to save their own skins.
In the last few weeks of fighting, Mr Gifford also witnessed the sickening tactics of the last remaining IS fighters. About 300 jihadis were mounting a last stand from the city’s National Hospital
‘I got wind that my senior officers were negotiating with IS commanders, at first over the radio then face to face.
‘The fighting went on during this time, though, and I was lucky to survive when a jihadi suicide bomber drove a lorry laden with explosives into the apartment block next to where I was staying.
‘He had got the wrong address for our sentry position.
‘Then, at first light on October 15, a convoy of buses pulled up outside the hospital. I was ordered not to fire as the IS fighters emerged from the building and climbed aboard.
‘This meant the war was over and I could come back to Britain. I was jubilant and celebrated by dancing on the roof. But it was also sickening to see the jihadis driving out of Raqqa unchallenged.’
The Mail on Sunday can also reveal how Special Air Service troops played a key role in the fall of Raqqa.
The elite soldiers established a base on the western outskirts of the city from which they directed an artillery campaign. They fired mortars and precision-guided rockets into IS positions.
UK and US Special Forces also gave Syrian rebel groups the smartphone app which they could use to report enemy positions.
This information was fed into a database and British and US officers then decided whether to launch an air strike. Mr Gifford added that most air strikes were conducted by drones, which were a constant sight on the Raqqa skyline day and night.
Mr Gifford – it is a name he has adopted to protect the security of his parents who live in Cambridge – is now planning to return home from the warzone.
The elite soldiers established a base on the western outskirts of the city from which they directed an artillery campaign. They fired mortars and precision-guided rockets into IS positions
But he is struck with fear that British anti-terror police will arrest him, as they have other UK citizens who have fought against IS.
He said: ‘It is a huge fear for me that as soon as I touch down in the UK, I’ll be brought into custody. I think the police will make an example of me because I’m relatively high-profile as a volunteer against IS, and take away my passport and restrict my movements.
‘I can also kiss goodbye to ever being granted a visa to places likes the US and Australia.
‘This makes me angry because I fought on the same side as British and US troops against the jihadis. IS are the terrorists not me, yet I face being arrested under the 2006 Terrorism Act. I am a patriot and I love Britain, but sometimes we forget who the victims are and who the aggressors are.’
Last month, Aiden Aslin, 23, from Newark, Nottinghamshire, was arrested at Manchester Airport and questioned on suspicion of terrorism offences.
He was returning home after spending several months fighting alongside Syrian rebels against IS.
He was released and is now on police bail.
The first British woman to take up arms against IS has also recently told of her fears she will be arrested.
Kimberley Taylor, a maths graduate from Darwen, Lancashire, travelled to Syria earlier this year to join the YPJ, the female branch of a Kurdish military organisation. She said: ‘It’s like I can’t return to my own country because I decided to fight in a democratic women’s army against Daesh [IS].
‘I don’t accept that, morally or politically. I don’t mind being questioned when I come back. The problem will be for how long police want to confiscate my passport.’
The UK Home Office advises against all travel to Syria and Iraq and warns British citizens returning from these countries that they ‘must expect to be investigated by the police to determine if they have committed criminal offences and do not pose a threat to national security’.
But the treatment of these volunteers appears harsh given the UK Government’s tolerance towards supposed IS fighters returning to Britain.
Last week, Max Hill QC, the Government’s anti-terrorism watchdog, said hundreds of Britons coming home after joining IS have not been charged with terrorism offences by police in order to avoid ‘losing a generation’ of young men.
About half of the estimated 850 UK citizens who joined IS in the Middle East have since returned, according to official figures.
Mr Hill, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told BBC radio: ‘The authorities have looked at them and looked at them hard and have decided that they do not justify prosecution.’
He added: ‘Really, we should be looking towards reintegration and moving away from any notion that we are going to lose a generation due to this travel.’
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