A WORCESTERSHIRE man is thought to have travelled to Syria to join up with Kurdish fighters against the Islamic State.

James Hughes, reportedly an ex-soldier, was understood to be in Rojava, in the north of the war-torn country, and helping other American and British fighters defend the besieged city of Kobani.

Mr Hughes' sister told Sky News: "Obviously, I am very worried about him going out in such a dangerous country. But we are all very proud of him.

"He's just doing it to help others. That's very much in his nature. I think he definitely thinks of the potential danger, but he is fearless of many things.

"Not much fazes him, and if it does he hides it very well."

The Observer also said a second Briton, named as Jamie Read, from Newmains, North Lanarkshire, was fighting against IS in Syria.

It cites a conversation it had on Facebook with an American, Jordan Matson, who is said to have recruited the Britons to the so-called Lions of Rojava group, aligned to the Kurdish YPG, or People's Defence Units, movement.

The Home Office warned against travelling to the war-torn country and said anyone who did was putting themselves in "considerable danger".

A spokesman for the men, Graham Penrose, denied the men were "mercenaries".

"Over the course of the last 12 months, the lack of assistance that the Kurds in particular have received in trying to protect themselves motivated the guys to see if there was some assistance they could lend," he told Sky News.

"They are not being paid, they are receiving no payment, there is no promises of payments, no payment in kind, they are not participating for any commercial gain. They are simply out there to help people who are in need of help.

"I personally, and the people who know them, feel they deserve a lot better than having themselves described as mercenaries. They are not mercenaries."

A statement purporting to be from the men on a Facebook page linked to the Britons said they intended to help "innocent people".

The post on the Terrorism and Conflict Research Center page said: "The definition of a mercenary is 'a mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict who is not a national or a party to the conflict and is motivated to take part in the hostilities by the desire for private gain'.

"That is clearly not the case for those of you who know or have met James Hughes and Jamie Read.

"They are volunteers and brave men ... whose conscience has motivated them to apply their skills to assist innocent people who have been left to their own devices in the face of terror from IS and to report their experiences so that Western European audiences can understand the imperative of assisting the Kurdish nation resist IS."