Alessandro De Ponti, 23 -- who was hit in the arm near the border with Iraqi Kurdistan -- was in a serious but not critical condition, Italian media said.

A member of a far-left Italian collective "Tana Libera Tutti", De Ponti is believed to have been trying to bring humanitarian aid to the war-torn region.

He was transferred to a hospital in Erbil, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region.

It is still unclear how he was hurt.

A small number of Western volunteers are believed to be fighting with Kurdish militias in both Syria and Iraq.