A BOURNEMOUTH IT specialist has joined the fight against the so-called Islamic State in Syria.

Jac Holmes, previously a service desk analyst for Bournemouth council’s private outsourcing partner Mouchel, was drawn to the war-torn country to join the People’s Protection Unit.

Also known as the YPG, the unit is the main Kurdish fighting force in northern Syria.

The 22-year-old has no military background, but left the UK to battle against ISIS – also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Members of the group are responsible for the murders of Brits Alan Henning and David Cawthorne Haines.

Earlier this month a video purporting to show the murder of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya was distributed by ISIS.

In an interview with BBC World Service’s Newshour, Mr Holmes said he left the UK in January to travel to Syria via Iraq, but was deported from Iraqi Kurdistan’s Erbil Airport.

However, he succeeded when he tried again a week later on January 16, this time via Sulaymaniyah in southern Kurdistan.

Mr Holmes established contacts with the YPG’s foreign fighter group, Lions of Rojava, during a battle in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane last September.

Asked by the BBC if he had a romanticised view of his role in the Syrian conflict, Mr Holmes said: “I don’t think anyone has a romanticised view about what’s going on over here.”

He added that he doesn’t see his role as “exciting”, but instead a “necessity”.

The Foreign Office has said that anyone fighting in Syria is likely to be arrested on their return to the UK.

They could face charges if they were deemed to have participated in acts of terrorism. Mr Holmes said: “You just have to hope that our justice system works in the correct way.”

He also said his family were aware of his movements.

“Of course they don’t want me to do anything that could potentially put my life in harm’s way,” he said.

“But apart from that, they support me in what I want to do.”

Speaking further to the Daily Mirror, Mr Holmes said he was "sick of looking at the brutality on the internet".

He added: "The Kurds love the fact we are amongst them but all of us come here primarily to fight.

"The Kurdish training is very lax but it is not much of an issue for me. Once you come out to Syria you learn how to protect yourself very quickly."

Imam Majid Yasin, director of Bournemouth Islamic Centre, said Mr Holmes is foolish for travelling to the conflict zone and is putting his life at risk.

“He will achieve nothing,” he added. “He would do better to help the people there who are in humanitarian need.

“If ISIS catches him then they will just kill him like they have everybody else.”

Of Mr Holmes’ decision to fight against ISIS, Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns said: “That is an absolutely laudable human reaction to the graphic scenes of torture, beheadings and crucifixions of minorities by these barbarous people – but it is not one I would advocate.”

He said Britain should be arming forces on the ground already fighting the terrorists.

Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood, who is also minister for the Middle East, said Mr Holmes has been irresponsible and it will be difficult for the government to help him if he encounters trouble.

“If he is captured and identified as a Briton then he will be made an example of,” he said. “He should turn around and come home.”