Hundreds of Isil women flee Kurd camp where Lisa Smith held
Whereabouts of Lisa Smith unknown as Kurds make deal with Assad for protection from Turkey
UP TO 780 women affiliated with Islamic State and their children have fled en masse from a camp where Irish Isil bride Lisa Smith has been held in northern Syria.
The escape yesterday came after shelling of the area around the Kurdish-held Ain Issa camp by Turkish forces in a five-day-old offensive triggered by the withdrawal of US troops.
It is not known whether Ms Smith and her daughter were among the escapees.
Last night, the Kurds said Syrian government forces agreed Sunday to help them fend off Turkey’s invasion. It is a major shift in alliances that came after President Donald Trump ordered all US troops withdrawn from the northern border area amid the rapidly deepening chaos.
The shift could lead to clashes between Turkey and Syria and raises the spectre of a resurgent Isil as the US relinquishes any remaining influence in northern Syria to President Bashar Assad and his chief backer, Russia.
The fast-deteriorating situation was set in motion last week, when Trump ordered US troops in northern Syria to step aside, clearing the way for an attack by Turkey, which regards the Kurds as terrorists. Since 2014, the Kurds have fought alongside the US in defeating the Isil in Syria, and Mr Trump’s move was decried at home and abroad as a betrayal of an ally.
Over the past five days, Turkish troops and their allies have pushed their way into northern towns and villages, clashing with the Kurdish fighters over a stretch of 200km. The offensive has displaced at least 130,000 people.
US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said yesterday all American troops would withdraw from northern Syria because of the increasing danger of getting caught in the crossfire.
“We have American forces likely caught between two opposing advancing armies, and it’s a very untenable situation,” he said. He did not say how many would withdraw or where they would go but that they represent most of the 1,000 US troops in Syria.
Mr Trump, in a tweet, said: “Very smart not to be involved in the intense fighting along the Turkish Border, for a change. Those that mistakenly got us into the Middle East Wars are still pushing to fight. They have no idea what a bad decision they have made.”
Last night, Kurdish officials announced they would work with the Syrian government to fend off the Turkish invasion. Syrian TV said government troops were moving to the north to confront the Turks.
The Kurdish fighters had few options after the United States
The chaos in Syria raises the spectre of a resurgent Isil
abandoned them, and it had been anticipated they would turn to Assad’s government for support.
A return by Assad’s forces to the region where Syrian Kurds have built up autonomy in the north would be a major shift in Syria’s long-running civil war, further cementing Assad’s hold over the war-ravaged country.
It would also mean that US troops no longer have a presence in an area where Russia and Iranian-backed militias now have a role.
It was not clear what Russia’s role was in cementing the agreement. But Russian officials have been mediating low-level talks between the Kurds and Damascus. Syria is allied with Russia, and Turkey, though it is a Nato member, has drawn close to Moscow in recent years under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The US withdrawal leaves open the question of what happens to the Kurdish-run prisons and detention centres that hold thousands of Islamic State prisoners, including more than 2,000 foreign militants.
Early yesterday, heavy fighting reached a Kurdish-run displaced-persons camp in Ain Eissa, some 35km south of the border, that is home to some 12,000 people, including around 1,000 wives and widows of Isil fighters and their children.
The Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria said 785 Islamic State supporters escaped after attacking guards and storming the gates.
Mr Erdogan yesterday ruled out any mediation in the dispute with the Kurds, saying Turkey won’t negotiate with “terrorists”.
Meanwhile, at least nine people, including five civilians, were killed yesterday in Turkish airstrikes on a convoy in the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ayn, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syrian Kurdish officials.