The Canadian LARPer Who Died Fighting ISIS
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The Canadian LARPer Who Died Fighting ISIS

In June, Nazzareno Tassone left Alberta, Canada, telling his family he was going to teach English in Iraq. In December, he was killed trying to take back Raqqa from the Islamic State.

The guns Nazzareno Tassone sold before he left Edmonton for Syria were nothing like the ones he'd use while fighting against the Islamic State.

While they were in the same general form, these were primarily plastic, not metal or wood, soft projectiles, not armour piercing. Talking to a LARPing group on Facebook, Tassone wrote, "since you fine folks enjoy Nerf guns, I got a few for sale."

"They all work. Few missing parts. Leaving the country so need them gone. Thanks for your time."

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Seven months after selling the toy weapons, on December 21, Tassone would be killed by the Islamic State during an operation to take back Raqqa.

Tassone was born in Keswick, Ontario and moved to Niagara Falls as a teenager, where he met Aleks Rakocevic, a long time friend. Speaking to VICE, Rakocevic described Tassone as a "very ambitious young man, a very enthusiastic guy who really put his heart into everything that he did."

He was a man always willing to try new things.

"We played games together, he used to play the Burlington Vampire games [LARPing] with me. He enjoyed the game, he enjoyed getting in there and playing a character and doing all the in-game stuff," he told VICE.

"It wasn't something that took up all his time or anything but we loved doing it. He had lots of hobbies that he did, we originally met playing airsoft, he did paintball for a while when he was younger. Hobbies change over time you know."

Rakocevic said that Tassone loved the army and always wanted to join but never could.

"He always wanted to be a part of something bigger than himself and it looked like he went and did that."

In 2014, Tassone, with his girlfriend, moved to Edmonton from Ontario for a job with CP rail. While in Alberta's capital, Tassone continued to LARP and make friends online and off. His Facebook profile picture was taken at the "Larpies," an event he described as "like the Oscars for underworld LARP in Edmonton." Tassone eventually lost his job at CP but after time found work with Impark, a parking lot company in Edmonton.

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Tassone taking in "the Larpies" in Edmonton. Photo via Facebook

It was in early 2016, that he started talking to a few friends about going overseas to fight ISIS and finally, in June, Tassone boarded a plane for the Middle East. He told his family he was going to teach English as a second language in Iraq. However, after arriving in Turkey Tassone met up with a recruiter for the the Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG) and joined their ranks.

One of the few people he had told his plan to was Mike Webster, an online friend.

"He was certainly idealistic," Webster told VICE. "I think what motivated it wasn't really that he was looking for adventure but he was seeing what was going on over there and was disgusted by it and wanted to do something about it."

The YPG is a Kurdish fighting force of about 50,000 strong in northern Syria, known as Rojava, fighting for a secular, feminist and democratic regime in the area against the theocratic Islamic State. Fighting among them are the Women's Protection Union (YPJ), a female military force, and a group of foreigners who have left their homes from all over the globe to pick up arms and fight.

Macer Gifford, a UK man who has done two tours with the YPG and is the chief executive of Friends of Rojava Foundation, said that he may have met Tassone on the last day of his 2016 tour in Syria when he welcomed the new fighters. While he's not 100 percent sure the two crossed paths, what he is certain of is the reputation Tassone earned from fellow friends still in the mix.

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"They told me he was a very lovely person, a very sweet person, very chilled out, very popular," Gifford told VICE. "There will be a lot of fighters that will be absolutely devastated by this news. The man showed an exceptional level of bravery."

Tassone's fellow fighters referred to him warmly as "Nazz."

Gifford said that it is normal for people with no prior military experience to join the YPG and that, sometimes, they do even better than former servicemen because of the difference in combat styles.

Although the internet access was shoddy, Tassone kept in touch with Webster when he could while fighting in Syria. Webster said the last he heard from Tassone was in late November when he received a message saying that the 24-year-old had done well in a battle called Manbij and was building a role for himself in the group.

"Initially his role was basically an infantryman essentially," said Webster. "Last time I had spoken to him, he said he had gotten into sniping. He was proud of that, he was proud of the work he was doing."

Tassone, left, and Ryan Lock, a 20-year-old UK man. Both were killed fighting ISIS on December 21, 2016. Photo supplied.

Webster said he was told Tassone was with Ryan Lock, the 20-year-old British man also killed on the 21st, guarding a post when there was a large attack by ISIS and both were killed in battle. Gifford heard a similar story saying that "Nazz" was on the frontline, an area rife with snipers, mines and "horrendous fighting."

ISIS has claimed they have 7,000 fighters in Raqqa. The city is an important one in the battle for Syria's soul. Gifford described the city as "the very heart, this is the military capital of the Islamic State, something they will refuse to surrender."

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"While the world has its eyes on Aleppo, there is a secret war in northern Syria that is the real war against jihadism," said Gifford. "The real war against the Islamic State."

The battle that cost Tassone, Lock, and four other fighters their lives took place in Jaeber village, just outside of Raqqa. While it's impossible to know exactly what happened to "Nazz," Gifford said he is familiar with the type of firefight that Tassone was killed in.

"[They] would have taken the village from ISIS, most possibly in the night, which possibly gives them some level of cover. They would get inside the village and a huge firefight erupts and they kick ISIS out. Then ISIS came back in force, they would have dug in but ISIS has such significant numbers they were unable to resist and they had to pull out of the village themselves and in the brutality of the fighting they were killed."

ISIS still has Tassone's body and his family has launched a Facebook page called "Bring Nazzareno Tassone Home" that implores the Canadian government to bring his body back to Canada. On the page, they share a portion of the letter they got from the YPG.

"Nazzareno was not only a fighter providing additional forces to our struggle," reads a portion of the letter. "In fact, with his experience and knowledge he has been an example for younger fighters."

As for how a man like Tassone from Canada found himself overseas fighting ISIS alongside Kurdish forces, Gifford said, well, that's just par for the course. The foreign recruits for the YPG are a mixed bag of people ranging from communist, to conservative, globalist to, in this case, a kind-hearted LARPer. Gifford said while fighting alongside someone you don't think of your differences, only what you share in common.

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"The reason we all get along, whether you're a former servicemen or a non-servicemen or a conservative or leftist is that, what unites us, is a belief in democracy," said Gifford. "So going out there and fighting for a secular democracy is incredibly important to all of us and then, of course, another thing that unites us is an absolute burning hatred for the Islamic State and everything they stand for."

Tassone is the second Canadian killed while fighting alongside the Kurds in Syria. The first was John Gallagher, who was killed in November of 2015 after bleeding out from a gunshot wound to the hip. When Tassone was killed, Webster said the YPG contacted him via text message asking for help getting ahold of the fallen man's family.

"I was able to, thankfully, get ahold of some mutual friends and had somebody who was down in Niagara Falls and tell his mother what had happened before they read it in the newspaper," said Webster.

Rakocevic was one of the people Webster was able to get ahold of. Tassone's old friend from Niagara said he was there when the news was broken to Tassone's family, some of which were still of the belief that he was teaching in Iraq.

"I don't think any of us knew exactly what he was doing until we found this out. We know he went over there to teach English. We knew he was in the Kurdish areas but as far as I knew he was teaching there, it wasn't going to be a surprise if he got shot at but I also didn't expect him to be fighting."

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"It was extremely upsetting to learn."

Tassone's family, speaking to the CBC, said that they were proud of the man who was described as a hero and a martyr by the YPG. Gifford and Webster likewise echoed that sentiment and added that Tassone formed an intense bond with his fellow fighters over the several months he spent fighting ISIS.

They said the man died doing something he believed in.

"He was with his friends, doing something he was passionate about, doing what he felt was the right thing and I think everyone who goes out there knows they may not come back and he just paid the ultimate price and showed the very best of himself, showed the very best of Canada too," said Gifford.

Webster said that in all his talks with Tassone the young man never seemed fearful or concerned for his safety.

"He told me once, 'I don't care how intense it gets, I'm not leaving my brothers.'"

Follow Mack Lamoureux on Twitter .

Lead image: Nazzareno Tassone, left, in Syria alongside a fellow YPG fighter