Canadian Israeli becomes first foreign woman fighting with Kurds in Syria
Canadian-born woman moved to Jewish state, was convicted in the US of phone fraud and is now helping battle Islamic State in Syria
A Canadian-born immigrant to Israel has become the first foreign woman to join Kurds battling Islamic State in Syria, a Kurdish source says, as details of the volunteer's turbulent past surfaced.
Gill Rosenberg, 31, is a civil aviation pilot who enlisted in an Israeli army search-and-rescue unit before being arrested in 2009, extradited to the United States and jailed over an international phone scam, one of her former lawyers said.
Contacted on an Iraqi mobile phone number, Rosenberg said on Tuesday she was in Syria, but declined to comment further. "Sorry, you have to go through the chain of command in YPJ," she said, referring to the Kurdish women's militia she has joined.
On Monday, Israel Radio aired an interview with Rosenberg in which she said she had travelled to Iraq, was training with Kurdish guerillas and would fight in neighbouring Syria.
"They [the Kurds] are our brothers. They are good people. They love life, a lot like us, really," Rosenberg said, explaining why she joined up.
Speaking in Hebrew, she said she had contacted the fighters on Facebook. "I was with the guerillas in the mountains for a few days and then I crossed the border," she said.
A source in the Kurdistan region said Rosenberg was the first foreign woman to join Syrian Kurds in battle, in addition to several Western men who are fighting in their ranks.