FEARS FOR SECURITY IN SYRIA AS 100 ISIS MEMBERS ESCAPE PRISON
▶ Latest breakout came as US and Turkey announce ceasefire in north-east Syria to allow Kurds’ withdraw
Up to 100 ISIS members escaped Al Hol camp in eastern Syria on Wednesday, as concerns grew over the security of prisons under Kurdish control a week after Turkey invaded the country’s north-east.
A western diplomatic source said that dozens had escaped from the camp’s so-called annex – where many of the terrorist group’s most dangerous, foreign members are held. The camp houses more than 60,000, most of whom are internally displaced people from Iraq and Syria. More than 10,000 foreign women and children are held in the annex.
The news came as Turkey and the US on Thursday agreed to a ceasefire in north-east Syria to allow the US to facilitate a Kurdish withdrawal, followed by a permanent ceasefire, US Vice President Mike Pence said.
The Turkish side will pause Operation Peace Spring for 120 hours to allow Kurdish forces to withdraw, Mr Pence said. He said the US was already working with Kurdish forces to arrange the withdrawal.
The Kurds would withdraw to about 32 kilometres south of the border with Turkey, he said.
Referring to the ISIS prisoner escapes, Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Al Hakim said his government’s priority was to bring back Iraqi fighters and their families “if possible”.
“With regard to foreign fighters ... these countries must take necessary and appropriate measures to try these people,” he said.
There has been a wave of attempted breakouts from facilities holding ISIS suspects since the Turkish operation began last Wednesday.
ISIS-affiliated channels on Telegram named the two Belgian ISIS militants believed to have escaped Kurdish custody last week as Mohammed Botachbaqut and Yassine
Cheikhki, according to Rojava Information Centre in Qamishli.
The Turkey-backed Syrian National Army confirmed that a number of the estimated 785 suspected ISIS members who escaped Ain Issa camp on Sunday were now in their custody in a village close to Tel Abyad.
On Wednesday, British newspaper The Telegraph tracked two high-profile female ISIS members, Toba Gondal and Lisa Smith, to the village. The
French government confirmed that nine French citizens were among the escapees.
ISIS also claimed a further jailbreak near Raqqa on Wednesday during a raid on a “PKK headquarters”.
The formerly US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces hold up to 2,000 foreign ISIS fighters in custody, as well as thousands of women and children in camps and prisons now in disarray after Turkey’s advance.
US Vice President Mike Pence met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday to push for a ceasefire in Syria after Ankara rebuffed international pressure to halt its offensive against Kurdish forces.
The visit came a day after Mr Erdogan vowed to press ahead with Turkey’s operation, which was made possible by the withdrawal of US troops from northern Syria.
The meeting lasted about 80 minutes. Mr Pence and Mr Erdogan were later joined by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other officials.
Mr Erdogan previously said no force could halt the offensive before a 32-kilometre buffer zone had been established inside Syria. Turkey has said that it faces an existential threat from the YPG, a Kurdish militia that is part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. The YPG is regarded by Ankara as an offshoot of the PKK, a group that has fought a decades-long insurgency in Turkey.
Ankara also says it is preparing to issue its own sanctions against the US in response to measures taken by Washington over the offensive.
Mr Trump appears to be shifting his position on Kurdish forces – having previously praised them for leading the internationally backed fight against ISIS in Syria.
The US leader suggested on Wednesday that the PKK was a greater terrorist threat than ISIS and welcomed the efforts of Russia and the government of Bashar Al Assad to fill the void left after he ordered the withdrawal of nearly all US troops from Syria.
Mr Trump also again indicated that he did not want to become more involved.
“Syria may have some help with Russia, and that’s fine,” Mr Trump said. “They’ve got a lot of sand over there. So, there’s a lot of sand that they can play with.
“Let them fight their own wars.”
Mr Al Assad said on Thursday that his forces would respond to the Turkish assault “using all legitimate means at our disposal”.
The Turkish operation, now in its second week, has triggered a wave of diplomacy among the major powers.
The White House now appears to be pursuing a split policy towards Syria – offering up severe condemnation the Turkish offensive but also embracing Turkish talking points about former US allies.
In response to the offensive, the Kurdish-led authorities in their self-governed area of Syria made a deal with Damascus. Government troops returned to the area to push back Turkey and its allied militias.
The move redrew the map of Syria and encouraged the return of the regime to large parts of northern Syria, eight years after it abandoned the territory.
Turkey came under renewed scrutiny on Thursday with Kurdish forces accusing Ankara of using banned munitions in the fight to capture the town of Ras Al Ain – a border village they initially took before being pushed back by the SDF.
“The Turkish aggression is using all available weapons against Ras Al Ain,” the Kurdish authorities said, accusing Ankara of firing napalm and white phosphorus – two internationally outlawed weapons – and harming civilians.
“We urge international organisations to send their teams to investigate some wounds sustained in attacks,” Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the SDF, said on social media. “The medical facilities in NE Syria lack expert teams.”
The US president and his senior officials met Democratic and Republican politicians on Thursday, including House leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.
The meeting descended into chaos with Mrs Pelosi walking out and accusing the president of having a “meltdown”.
However, the issue of a US withdrawal from Syria has led to rare bipartisan action, with 129 members of the Republican Party joining Democrats in the House to denounce the move in a vote on Wednesday.