Harry Rowe (born 1987), known as Macer Gifford, is a British former currency trader and volunteer fighter and medic who, between mid-2015 and 2017, travelled to

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

to fight with the Kurdish

YPG The People's Defense Units (YPG), (YPG) ; ar, وحدات حماية الشعب, Waḥdāt Ḥimāyat aš-Šaʽb) also called People's Protection Units, is a mainly-Kurds in Syria, Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the ...

militia against the Islamic State group, and as of 2022, is a volunteer medic and recruiter for the Ukrainian Foreign Legion in Ukraine. He took his identity from National Hunt jockey Macer Gifford, the brother of four-time champion jockey Josh Gifford. He spent five months fighting with the YPG in 2015 before returning to the UK in 2015. In 2016 he completed a second tour with the YPG in Syria. In Ukraine, Gifford is reportedly "running a battlefield first aid training programme that he first pioneered with the Kurds

n Syria N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...

Early life and career

Gifford is from Cambridge. He has previously been a

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

councillor, and previously had no military training. In 2016, Gifford took part in fighting around Manbij with the

Syrian Democratic Forces , war = the Syrian Civil War , image = Flag of Syrian Democratic Forces.svgborder , caption = Flag , active = 10 October 2015 – present , ideology = DemocracyDecentralizationSecularism ...

(SDF), who were clearing the city of Manbij of ISIS forces. After returning from Syria in 2015, he was initially barred from speaking at the University of London Union because the Union's events officer feared that his talk might encourage others to travel to fight in Syria. The decision was reversed after a petition calling on the Union to let Gifford speak was signed by 1,400 people and the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

advised the Union that it was 'legally acceptable' for the event to take place. Gifford is attempting to set up a medical aid charity. He is currently fighting with the Syriac Military Council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gifford, Macer People of the Syrian civil war People's Protection Units 1987 births Living people