Deal with IS ‘has let British jihadis go free’
BRITISH jihadis are feared to be among hundreds of foreign fighters allowed to escape Raqqa under the noses of coalition forces.
Almost 4,000 IS militants and their families were reportedly allowed to leave in a four-mile convoy as the Islamist stronghold in Syria fell last month.
Witnesses said it included ‘ huge’ numbers of foreign fighters – including some english speakers – who are said to have since spread out across Syria and into Turkey, potentially en route to europe.
This was despite the coalition being assured that no foreign fighters would be allowed to leave and previous US pledges that they would all be killed rather than allow to return home.
The exodus is understood to have been agreed to spare Kurdish forces, the BBC reported. They were leading the fight against IS on the ground and it would have required a fight to the death to clear the last surviving jihadis from the capital of their self-declared caliphate.
A truce was negotiated with local leaders to allow the remaining fighters and their families to leave. A Western Coalition officer was present but not actively involved
The convoy – also said to have been carrying tons of weapons and ammunition – left on October 12 bound for a camp further north in territory still held by IS.
The coalition monitored the convoy from the air, dropping flares to help drivers in the 163 vehicles, including lorries and buses, navigate the road, witnesses told the BBC. Islamic State fighters carrying AK47s sat on top of some of the trucks and crammed in trailers.
The coalition forces said they did not condone the convoy but had been assured no foreign fighters would be allowed on it and had believed only four had sneaked on, all of whom were in custody. ‘We didn’t want anyone to leave,’ said Col Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the Coalition. ‘But this goes to the heart of our strategy – “by, with and through” local leaders on the ground.’
however, one driver hired to take part in the convoy said there was a ‘huge number’ of foreign fighters among the thousands involved, including many from europe.
Another described a numb er of foreigners – including female fighters – with each driver who abused who threatened drivers for the entire journey.
Many of those who escaped have now moved on from Syria, with human traffickers on the Syria-Turkey border reporting a boom in business with the influx. One who has helped smuggle 20 families into Turkey in the past week said most were foreign. ‘Some were talking in French, others in english, others in some foreign language,’ he told the BBC.
Others went to the city of Idlib, to the west of Raqqa, where many Britons have also escaped from the country, usually paying £3,000 per fighter, it was reported.
The deal was agreed despite US Defence Secretary James Mattis previously describing the fight against IS as a war of ‘annihilation’ and insisting they would not allow foreign fighters to return to europe.
‘Huge number of foreign fighters’