Australian man dies in Syria fighting against IS militants

An Australian man fighting against Islamic State (IS) militia in Syria has reportedly been killed, becoming the first Westerner to die fighting alongside Kurdish forces.

The news was reported by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Thursday, who revealed the man was killed when IS fighters attacked Kurdish militants in northern Syria on Tuesday.

Although SOHR did not disclose details regarding the man, including his name or age, they did confirm he was an Australian citizen.

"An Australian man was killed in an assault on Tuesday by the IS against a position of the Kurdish People's Protection Units ( YPG) near Tal Hamis in Hasakah province," SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman said on Thursday.

The Kurdish group was formed following a major IS assault in the Mosul region of Iraq, displacing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens.

Since, they have received backing from the U.S.-led coalition and are fighting IS troops on multiple fronts across Syria and Iraq.

According to Rami Abdel Rahman, an abundance of Westerners have recently joined in their plight.

"Dozens of Westerners have joined the YPG's ranks," he said. " There are foreigners fighting on all sides of Syria's war. They are volunteers, they don't get paid anything at all."

"The YPG isn't actively recruiting foreigners, but people from countries like Canada, the United States, Britain, Spain, Australia, Holland, Austria and France have travelled to Syria to join their ranks." End