Hollywood actor Michael Enright tells Al Arabiya why he fights ISIS

British actor Michael Enright, who is fighting against ISIS in Syria alongside Kurdish forces, has said it was the execution of American journalist James Foley in 2014 that pushed him to fight the militants.

In an exclusive six-minute interview with Al Arabiya News Channel this week in the Syrian battlefield, Enright said it was painful for him to watch Foley’s execution.

“The reason I came out here is because originally I saw James Foley, an American citizen, journalist and innocent man, getting his head cut off. I had never seen anything like that and I felt a bunch of raw emotions. [It was] very painful for me.

“What made it worse for me was that not only was [James Foley] an innocent made, the coward that did it was an Englishman,” Enright said in reference to British ISIS executioner Mohammed Emwazi, known for months as “Jihadi John” before he was identified by British intelligence.

“I decided I wanted to do something about it,” Enright added. The full interview can be watched here.

In recent months, the British actor who has had minor roles in Hollywood films – including blockbuster Prates of the Caribbean – had been pictures on Syrian frontlines wearing Kurdish military uniform.

Michael Enright, left, a British actor who has had minor roles in Hollywood films, gives a thumbs up with Kurdish journalist Mohammed Hassan, right, as he holds his AK-47 and wears the Kurdish fighters military uniform. (AP)

Last week marked a year since ISIS declared itself a “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria and enforced its campaign to seize swathes of Iraq and Syria, carrying out high profile executions of Western journalists, a Jordanian pilot fighting in the anti-ISIS coalition, while leading a brutal crackdown on Syrian and Iraqi minorities.