The Kurdish Protection Units in Northern Syria: A Deviant Case of Peaceful Cohabitation between Foreign Fighters and Local Civilians?

Abstract

Interactions between foreign combatants and local populations during civil wars are often conflictual. Existing research underscores how trans-national insurgents typically behave more violently than domestic fighters toward civilians. Nevertheless, most research has focused on relations between local rebels and civilians, showing how the type of endowments that rebels exhibit determines the pattern of behavior toward civilian populations. Only recently has the impact of foreign fighters caught the attention of scholars. The consensus in the existing literature is that trans-national insurgents are typically more violent toward civilians than local rebels: they have neither ethnic nor linguistic kinships, there is no mechanism of accountability on foreign fighters, and, usually, they have more extreme religious or ideological beliefs compared to locals. Contrary to the general view, the Kurdish YPG/YPJ appears as a deviant case since it has exhibited low levels of civilian victimization. The presence of foreign fighters in its ranks seems not to affect this trend. Relying on primary and secondary sources, the article argues that the YPG/YPJ’s inclusive ideology, daily practices, and the organizational measures that the Kurdish leadership has adopted in dealing with foreign combatants in the ranks have resulted in lower levels of violence toward civilians.