I fled cushy UK life to fight ISIS thugs in Syria – I’m haunted by smell of death & babies being used as human shields

IT WAS the representation of British ISIS combatant Jihadi John wielding a weapon and executing terrified hostages arsenic they kneeled earlier him that changed Macer Gifford’s beingness forever.

Watching the horror unleashed by the Islamic State unfold crossed Syria made the 27-year-old London banker discontinue his job, permission his woman and question 3,000 miles to articulation the combat against the terrorists. 

He would spend the next 3 years chasing ISIS retired of villages crossed the wartorn nation, culminating with six weeks of sheer hellhole warring successful the streets of Raqqa. 

It was present that Macer watched the jihadists usage babies arsenic quality shields, massacre civilians waving achromatic flags and stroke up his comrades successful car bombings.

The ex-banker inactive remembers the “smell of death” hovering implicit the destroyed metropolis of Raqqa and the changeless dependable of bullets filling the aerial followed by the piercing cries of grief.

Raqqa’s scarred streets were a acold outcry from wherever Macer had grown up successful agrarian Cambridgeshire with his 2 brothers oregon cardinal London wherever helium aboriginal worked arsenic a currency trader. 

The erstwhile nationalist schoolboy would walk his days speaking to high-profile clients and selling currency earlier going location to his level successful the leafy borough of Battersea. 

Macer, not his existent name, would unrecorded for the play and spell connected arsenic galore holidays arsenic his yearly permission would let with his girlfriend.

But it was spending those 40 minutes each greeting speechmaking newspapers to counsel clients astir the overseas markets that brought Macer look to look with what helium describes arsenic “pure evil”.

Macer told The Sun: “Every azygous day, we were being bombarded with images from ISIS for the archetypal time. 

“These brainless, evil radical successful the Middle East could scope into everyone’s homes successful Britain and America, connected their TV screens and successful newspapers - close up to the President of the United States.”

He couldn’t unsee the images of hostages being burned live successful cages, others being flung to their deaths from buildings, oregon the videos of ISIS fighters joking astir raping girls and trading them for guns.

And helium inactive remembers the sheer fearfulness helium felt erstwhile helium watched a sneering Jihadi John, the Islamic State’s astir notorious executioner, behead his victims.

“I retrieve seeing the brave faces of the hostages with Jihadi John lasting down them arsenic they work their past statements earlier they were killed and I felt for their families,” Macer said. 

It was 2014 and Macer knew helium had to bash thing to assistance - and that called for drastic action. 

He’d been toying with the thought of entering politics and becoming a Tory councillor, but with the regular onslaught of horrors unfolding successful Syria, Macer decided to prime up a weapon instead. 

In the weeks that followed, Macer discontinue his comfy banking occupation successful the City, pulled retired from buying a location and broke up with his girlfriend.

Macer lied to his parents - his 1 regret - and told them helium was going to Turkey to bash immoderate humanitarian work. 

But successful reality, helium was travelling 3,000 miles to combat ISIS jihadists alongside the Kurds successful Syria - each without immoderate subject experience. 

“I was fundamentally throwing myself into the heavy end,” Macer admits, saying that his lone acquisition of army beingness was being successful the cadets astatine school. 

Rather than ringing successful 2015 with his household successful Cambridgeshire, helium was toasting the New Year successful the mountains of Syria with rebel fighters. 

The archetypal fewer months successful Syria were “pretty boring”, Macer says, with his days spent being trained up by chap overseas fighters from Britain and America. 

And past it each changed. 

While his banker friends were enjoying a “brilliant” beingness successful London, Macer and thousands of different Kurds were warring successful the alleyways of towns and cities crossed Syria. 

But it was erstwhile they reached the ISIS superior Raqqa successful 2017 wherever the warring became relentless, with hundreds of Macer’s comrades dying connected a play ground for six months. 

Raqqa was ISIS’s epicentre - and wherever Macer had watched with fearfulness arsenic Jihadi John and different ISIS terrorists executed prisoners years earlier. 

But now, helium was determination to combat against the violent thugs. 

He said: “Raqqa was horrendous. It was a metropolis that became astir wholly destroyed by the extremity of the cognition to liberate it. 

“The metropolis was held by a batch of fanatical ISIS supporters that were determined to support it astatine immoderate outgo - and they were consenting to dice for it.” 

Brutal thoroughfare battles followed betwixt ISIS fighters and the 20,000 Kurdish fighters who were supported by the US-backed confederation of Kurdish and Arab forces. 

“It was thoroughfare to thoroughfare fighting, alleyway to alleyway, stairwell to stairwell - and the metropolis astir america was dilatory being destroyed,” Macer said. 

“Every time determination were cars filled with bombs that would race towards our positions and it would springiness america conscionable a mates of minutes to destruct them. 

“The magnitude of adjacent calls we had wherever a car weaponry would beryllium coming down the thoroughfare and an American F-16 combatant pitchy would travel successful and stroke it up with a missile.”

But determination were different times they weren’t truthful lucky. 

Macer said: “It wasn’t antithetic to spot 20 oregon 30 guys killed oregon injured from these monolithic explosions. 

“The Islamic State had already pre-built these termination vehicles and they’d knocked down the walls of houses and utilized them arsenic makeshift garages. 

“And from the air, each the Americans could spot was a location truthful they had nary grounds of thing wrong truthful they wouldn’t weaponry it. 

“It was lone erstwhile we drew adjacent to them and were 500 metres distant that a termination bomber would get wrong the vehicle, crook it on, and past propulsion it retired of the location and contention towards us.”

Macer volition ne'er hide the horrors helium witnessed and the scenes of utter despair.

Prisons wherever chains connected the walls showed wherever hundreds had been tortured and killed, bodies of civilians and his friends amongst the rubble. 

He remembers a ngo wherever his squad were tasked with uncovering Yazidi women who had been forced into being enactment slaves for ISIS fighters. 

“We were hoping that determination were inactive women determination astatine this brothel,” Macer says. 

But they were excessively late. ISIS had moved the women conscionable hours before. 

Macer said: “All we recovered were soiled mattresses and chains connected the floor. 

“The women had been penning connected the warfare and it was conscionable a infinitesimal of implicit despair for america each due to the fact that we had truthful hoped to get to them and acceptable them free.”

To this day, determination are inactive thousands of Yazidi girls missing and presumed dormant - oregon inactive being held captive by  ISIS terrorists’ successful the deserts of Syria and Iraq wherever the Islamic State fled. 

The civilians surviving successful Raqqa besides became target signifier for ISIS snipers. 

“The civilians would travel retired of buildings waving achromatic flights and calling for the Kurds to rescue them,” Macer recalls. 

“But that went against everything that ISIS stood for. They saw these radical arsenic traitors, truthful they began to sprout astatine them and they began to people them successful termination bombings.

“ISIS were wasting rather important infrastructure and weapons to termination the civilian.

"And the crushed they were consenting to bash that was due to the fact that it acceptable an illustration to the remainder of the radical successful the metropolis that they wouldn't tolerate immoderate signifier of surrender oregon practice with the opposition.

“After a fewer months, the odor of decease hovered implicit the city. The menace of Islamic State ambushes, of IEDs, was constant.

“We mislaid a batch of bully radical connected missions wherever we would beryllium pushing done the streets and we’d beryllium ambushed.

“Other times, I saw young radical who were warring alongside america peering retired of windows erstwhile they heard noises extracurricular and being changeable by snipers.”

His dependable quiet, Macer added: “We mislaid a batch of friends successful the city. I’m the lone survivor successful the squad of foreigners that came to combat successful Raqqa.”

Macer’s past ngo successful Syria was the conflict for a infirmary successful cardinal Raqqa, which had go the stronghold for the Islamic State successful the city. 

His squad were ambushed connected a roadworthy adjacent and Macer watched his commandant and different worker changeable dormant by ISIS fighters. 

He was deed by shrapnel from from a ricocheted slug and fell to the ground.

“I crawled disconnected the roadworthy and turned to prosecute the ISIS fighters that were shooting disconnected america and I rushed disconnected the road. I hadn’t adjacent announcement I’d been deed really, my caput went into a blur," Macer says.

“I could perceive the snap of the bullets arsenic they cracked astir my head.”

And what followed was what Macer tin lone picture arsenic “24 hours of hell”. 

“We came nether this sustained onslaught with nary nutrient and nary h2o for 24 hours," helium said.

It was lone the involution of the Americans arsenic they bombed the country and destroyed the ISIS positions that saved their lives, Macer says.

From there, Macer and his squad fought ISIS fighters astatine the infirmary successful bloody battles.

The erstwhile banker would occurrence astatine snipers hiding adjacent windows with his sniper rifles and blast RPGs done the openings. 

“And past 1 day, the radio started blaring aft the 3rd time and they said halt firing astatine the hospital,” Macer said. 

The dependable of cracking bullets and explosions stopped instantly.

But erstwhile Macer looked retired astatine the infirmary from his bombed retired building, helium was horrified by what helium was seeing. 

“We turned and determination was an Islamic State combatant holding a babe retired of the window,” Macer says, shaking his caput astatine the memory. 

“The connection was clear: We’ve got children and civilians successful here, halt shooting astatine us.” 

And past the warring stopped. 

After six months of brutal warring against ISIS successful Raqqa, the metropolis was yet liberated successful October 2017 and Macer watched the terrorists limp retired of the city, breached and destroyed. 

“One day, the Islamic State surrendered and we were asked not to sprout astatine them erstwhile they yet near the city," helium says.

“It was a infinitesimal of relief, due to the fact that for the archetypal clip I realised that the conflict for Raqqa was over. 

“And determination was a feeling of restitution due to the fact that I saw the Islamic State fighters limping to these buses that they’d provided for them and they drove into the godforsaken wherever they’d yet beryllium hunted down and killed anyway.”  

He said: “Finally, radical were retired successful the streets, women were taking of their burqas that they’d been forced to deterioration and you could openly play euphony and beryllium yourself for the archetypal time.”

For Macer, watching ISIS surrender successful Raqqa was the extremity of the warfare for him. 

“For 3 years I’d been warring ISIS and fixed up my life, and it was, arsenic acold arsenic I was concerned, wholly implicit for me,” Macer says. 

“I’d begun to suffer my fearfulness - and the infinitesimal you suffer your fear, you nary longer duck erstwhile you perceive things and you nary longer fell and alternatively you privation to spell retired and support fighting.

“But I realised I was going down the incorrect path, truthful I was precise grateful that the warfare came to an extremity for maine erstwhile Islamic State fled Raqqa.” 

By the extremity of the combat against ISIS, 12,000 Kurds would dice warring and astir 100,000 terrorists were killed. 

“And erstwhile ISIS were yet defeated, determination were much than 100,000 prisoners - adjacent to this time - sitting successful camps, the astir celebrated from Britain being Shamima Begum,” Macer says.

He decided to yet spell location to his household - but that wasn’t the past clip Macer would prime up a uniform. 

Macer went connected to combat against Vladimir Putin’s forces with overseas unpaid forces successful Ukraine successful 2022, helping to liberate the metropolis of Kherson. 

He spent months with Ukraine’s 131st Separate Reconnaissance Battalion, gathering intel, uncovering minefields and clearing treelines to marque mode for Kyiv’s forces. 

After months fighting, helium came location again to beryllium adjacent to his dad, who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. But wrong weeks of arriving backmost successful the UK, Macer’s begetter passed away. 

Macer is present looking towards the future and aft seeing the Syrian rebels tally Assad and his brutal forces retired of the state is readying connected going backmost to a state helium inactive holds adjacent to his heart. 

He’d seen the decision of ISIS successful Raqqa successful 2017 arsenic a infinitesimal of alteration for Syria - but it was squandered with the state engulfed successful a brutal civilian warfare that would permission millions dead. 

Now, aft 7 years, there’s different transformative infinitesimal successful Syria’s history with the HTS rebels defeating dictator Assad who fled to Putin’s Russia. 

But Macer fears that the HTS rebels mightiness not beryllium capable to betterment Syria. 

“My fearfulness for Syria is that the civilian warfare volition continue, that the rebels successful Damascus, the Turkish rebels successful the North and the Kurds that pb the SDF volition commencement warring amongst themselves to effort and make 1 victor astatine the extremity of this.” 

And Macer says that could hazard the emergence of ISIS successful Syria, with the terrorists taking vantage of immoderate much chaos.

But Macer inactive has anticipation that Syria tin rebuild aft Assad’s authorities collapsed - and the reply lies with the West supporting locals connected the crushed who privation a amended aboriginal for the country.