International Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces

The International Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces was a collective of anarchist fighters from around the world. Its formation was announced on 31 March 2017. According to the group, their goals were to defend the social revolution in Autonomous Administration of [North and East Syria|Rojava] in northern Syria, and to spread anarchism. The group announced its dissolution on 24 September 2018, citing a change in "perspective on strategy of armed struggle".
The IRPGF had been part of the International Freedom Battalion since April 2017. Turkish media have described them as a terrorist organization and part of the network of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party.

Affiliation

The group was a part of the International Freedom Battalion since April 2017, and they are the second anarchist group to join after the Greek unit RUIS. They participate frequently in the campaign activities of the brigade in social networks.
On 29 May, the IRPGF issued a statement in tribute to the commander of the United Freedom Forces Mehmet Kurnaz, who was killed in combat on the Raqqa Front while fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. They define him as a true friend of IRPGF. On the 31st of the same month, the IRPGF sent representatives and speakers to the City of Derek at the funeral ceremony to four martyrs of the International Freedom Battalion and the People's Protection Units, Mehmet Kurnaz commander of the United Freedom Forces, Muzaffer Kandemir of the United Freedom Forces, Elî Mihemed Mizil and Nimet Tûrûg of the People's Protection Units.

Armed struggle and involvement in the Syrian Civil War

Their public presence was confirmed at multiple martyr ceremonies in Rojava over 2017. Having fought along with the three most recent martyrs of the International Freedom Battalion, they were present at the funeral ceremonies for DKP leader and United Freedom Forces commander Ulaş Bayraktaroğlu, Tufan Eroğluer from BÖG and Ayşe Deniz Karacagil from MLKP.

The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army

The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army, a queer anarchist subunit of the IRPGF, formed in July 2017, as a group of foreign militia who came to fight alongside the Kurdish People's Defense Units. Its formation went viral on social media and was widely reported and celebrated in the Western press.

Criticism

An August 2017 Al Jazeera English report by Syrian-Palestinian blogger Razan Ghazzawi cited two queer Syrian activists, who alleged the IRPGF had a lack of accountability, that its ally the Democratic [Union Party (Syria)|Democratic Union Party] had not acted against LGBTQ discrimination, and that its anarchist ideology was opposed to peace and stability. Ghazzawi argued the group contributed to a war on terror narrative that enabled the Assad regime.