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U.S. Forces Leave ‘High-Value’ ISIS Detainees Behind in Retreat From Syria America’s Former Allies in Syria Team Up With Damascus Government
(about 2 hours later)
The American military was unable to transfer about five dozen “high value” Islamic State detainees out of Kurdish-run wartime prisons before the Pentagon decided to move its forces out of northern Syria and pave the way for a Turkish-led invasion, according to two American officials. DOHUK, Iraq — America’s former Kurdish allies in Syria on Sunday announced a new deal with the government in Damascus — a sworn enemy of Washington that is backed by Russia — after President Trump ordered the withdrawal of American forces from northern Syria.
In the same area on Sunday, hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers escaped from a low-security detention camp in the region, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the Turkish ground invasion and the accompanying strikes. The deal marked a major turning point in Syria’s long war.
Both developments underscored the pandemonium unleashed by President Trump’s sudden decision to order American troops to evacuate part of the Syrian region bordering Turkey. For five years, United States policy relied on collaborating with a Kurdish-led militia both to fight the Islamic State and to limit the influence of Iran and Russia, which support the Syrian government, with a goal of maintaining some leverage over any future settlement of the conflict.
That allowed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to order an invasion of Syrian territory controlled by a Kurdish-led militia that was at the center of American-led efforts to contain the Islamic State over the past several years.
On Sunday, the militia was forced to seek the protection of the Syrian government. On Sunday, after Mr. Trump abruptly abandoned that approach, American leverage appeared all but gone. That threatened to give President Bashar al-Assad and his Iranian and Russian backers a free hand. It also jeopardized hard-won gains against the Islamic State — and potentially opened the door for its return.
The Turkish government sees the Kurdish military presence so close to its border as a serious security threat, because the Kurdish forces have close ties with a guerrilla group that has waged a decades-long insurgency inside Turkey itself. Syria’s deal with the Kurds paves the way for Syrian government forces to return to the country’s northeast for the first time in years to try to repel a Turkish invasion launched after the Trump administration pulled American troops out of the way. The pullout has already unleashed chaos and sectarian bloodletting.
Turkey’s invasion upended a fragile peace in northern Syria, and has already begun to unleash sectarian bloodshed. The deal with the Kurds capped a day of whipsaw developments marked by rapid advances by Turkish-backed forces and the escape of hundreds of women and children linked to the Islamic State from a detention camp. And two American officials said the United States military had failed to transfer five dozen “high value” Islamic State detainees out of the country before the American troop withdrawal.
It also risks enabling a resurgence of the Islamic State. The extremist group no longer controls any territory in Syria, but it still has sleeper cells and supporters across parts of the country. Turkish-backed forces advanced so quickly that they seized a key road that American forces needed to withdraw, officials said.
ISIS has already claimed responsibility for at least two attacks since the start of the invasion, including one car bomb in a border city, Qamishli, and another on an international military base outside Hasaka, a regional capital further to the south. The American troop withdrawal has allowed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to order an invasion aimed at uprooting the Kurdish-led militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces, a key partner in American efforts to fight the Islamic State. Turkey sees the militia as a security threat because of its links to a Kurdish separatist movement that has long fought the Turkish state.
Mr. Trump claimed last week that the United States had taken out the worst ISIS detainees to ensure they would not escape. But in fact the American military was able to take custody of only two British detainees — half of a cell dubbed the Beatles that tortured and killed Western hostages — the officials said. The Turkish incursion has killed scores of people, and left Kurdish fighters accusing the United States of betrayal for leaving them at the Turks’ mercy. That is what led them to strike the deal with Damascus, which said on Sunday that its forces were heading north to take control of two towns and to fight the “Turkish aggression.”
As the week progressed and Kurdish casualties mounted, the onetime American ally known as the Syrian Democratic Forces grew increasingly angry at the United States. They cast Mr. Trump’s move as a betrayal. Turkey’s invasion upended a fragile peace in northeastern Syria and risks enabling a resurgence of the Islamic State, which no longer controls territory in Syria but still has sleeper cells and supporters.
The Kurds refused, the officials said, to cooperate in permitting the American military to take out any more detainees from the constellation of ad hoc wartime detention sites for captive ISIS fighters. These range from former schoolhouses in towns like Ain Eissa and Kobani to a former Syrian government prison at Hasaka. Since the Turkish incursion began on Wednesday, ISIS has claimed responsibility for at least two attacks in Syria: One car bomb in the northern city of Qamishli and another on an international military base outside Hasaka, a regional capital further to the south.
The prisons hold about 11,000 men, about 9,000 of them Syrian or Iraqi Arabs. About 2,000 come from some 50 other nations whose governments have refused to repatriate them. Mr. Trump has said repeatedly that the United States has taken the worst ISIS detainees out of Syria to ensure they would not escape. But in fact the American military took custody of only two British detainees — half of a cell dubbed the Beatles that tortured and killed Western hostages — American officials said.
Five captives escaped during a Turkish bombardment on a Kurdish-run prison in Qamishli on Friday, Kurdish officials said. As the Turkish incursion progresses and Kurdish casualties mount, the members of the Syrian Democratic Forces have grown increasingly angry at the United States. Some have cast Mr. Trump’s move as a betrayal.
The Kurdish authorities also operate camps for families displaced by the conflict that hold tens of thousands of people, many of them non-Syrian wives and children of Islamic State fighters. The Kurds refused, the American officials said, to let the American military take any more detainees from their ad hoc detention sites for captive ISIS fighters, which range from former schoolhouses to a former Syrian government prison. Together, these facilities hold about 11,000 men, about 9,000 of them Syrians or Iraqis. About 2,000 come from 50 other nations whose governments have refused to repatriate them.
One major camp in Ain Eissa was left unguarded on Sunday morning after a Turkish airstrike, and as Turkish-backed troops advanced close to the town, according to an administrator at the camp, Jalal al-Iyaf. The fighting has raised concerns that jihadists detained in the battle to defeat ISIS could escape, facilitating the reconstitution of the Islamic State. Five captives escaped during a Turkish bombardment on a Kurdish-run prison in Qamishli on Friday, Kurdish officials said.
In the mayhem that followed, more than 500 relatives of ISIS fighters housed in a secure part of the camp escaped, Mr. al-Iyaf said. A Kurdish official also said that the ISIS flag had been raised in the countryside between the camp and the Turkish border. The Kurdish authorities also operate camps for families displaced by the conflict that hold tens of thousands of people, many of them wives and children of Islamic State fighters.
But determining the exact state of play on the ground proved difficult, as the advances by Turkish-backed Arab fighters scattered Kurdish officials who had previously been able to provide information. After a Turkish airstrike near a camp in Ain Issa on Sunday, women connected to the Islamic State and detained there rioted, lighting their tents on fire and tearing down fences, according to a camp administrator, Jalal al-Iyaf.
In the mayhem, more than 500 of them escaped, Mr. al-Iyaf said.
Most of the camp’s other 13,000 residents are Syrian, but there are also refugees from Iraq who sought safety in Syria because of violence at home. By nightfall, some of those people had left the unguarded camp, too, fearing that it was no longer safe, Mr. al-Iyaf said.
“Everyone thought that the camp was internationally protected, but in the end there was nothing,” Mr. al-Iyaf said. “It was not protected at all.”
Determining the exact state of play on the ground proved difficult on Sunday, as the advances by Turkish-backed Arab fighters scattered Kurdish officials who had previously been able to provide information.
The likelihood of an ISIS resurgence remains hard to gauge, since the Syrian Kurdish leadership may have exaggerated some incidents to catch the West’s attention.The likelihood of an ISIS resurgence remains hard to gauge, since the Syrian Kurdish leadership may have exaggerated some incidents to catch the West’s attention.
The camp escape came hours before the United States military said it would relocate its remaining troops in northern Syria to other areas of the country in the coming weeks.The camp escape came hours before the United States military said it would relocate its remaining troops in northern Syria to other areas of the country in the coming weeks.
Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper announced in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the United States found itself “likely caught between two opposing advancing armies” in northern Syria. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the United States found itself “likely caught between two opposing advancing armies” in northern Syria. The reference was to the possibility of an impending clash between Turkish forces and the Syrian government and its Russian allies.
The reference was to the possibility of an impending clash between Turkish forces and the Syrian government and its Russian allies. Kurdish militias are now allying with them in the absence of support from their former American allies The deal between the Kurdish authorities and the Assad government was announced on Sunday evening, and government troops were expected to enter the city of Kobani overnight.
On Sunday evening, the Kurdish authorities announced a deal with the Syrian government to allow the Syrian Army back into Kurdish-held areas, with regime troops due to enter the city of Kobani overnight. The Kurdish-led militia said the Syrian government had a “duty to protect the country’s borders and preserve Syrian sovereignty” and so would deploy along the Syrian-Turkish border.
“It has been agreed with the Syrian government, which has a duty to protect the country’s borders and preserve Syrian sovereignty, that the Syrian army can enter and deploy along the Syrian-Turkish border to support the S.D.F. to repel this aggression and liberate the areas entered by the Turkish army and its mercenaries,” the Kurdish authorities said in a statement on Sunday night. Previously, Trump administration officials argued that keeping Mr. Assad’s forces out of the territory was key to stemming Iranian and Russian influence and keeping pressure on Mr. Assad.
Mr. Trump took to Twitter to defend his decision last week to pull troops back from the border region, portraying himself as powerless to end a longstanding feud between Kurdish militants and a Turkish government that sees their quest as a threat to its sovereignty. Mr. Trump says his decision to pull American troops out of the way of the Turkish advance was part of his effort to extricate the United States from “endless wars” in the Middle East and elsewhere.
“The Kurds and Turkey have been fighting for many years,” Mr. Trump wrote on Sunday. “The Kurds and Turkey have been fighting for many years,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
Mr. Trump also tried to assuage his critics, including Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who broke with the president over his Syria decision and is promising bipartisan legislation to slap economic sanctions on Turkey. Mr. Trump also tried to assuage his critics, including Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who broke with him over the Syria decision and is promising bipartisan legislation to slap economic sanctions on Turkey.
“Dealing with @LindseyGrahamSC and many members of Congress, including Democrats, about imposing powerful Sanctions on Turkey,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Treasury is ready to go, additional legislation may be sought.”“Dealing with @LindseyGrahamSC and many members of Congress, including Democrats, about imposing powerful Sanctions on Turkey,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Treasury is ready to go, additional legislation may be sought.”
But his decision has already had devastating consequences for the Kurds. But his decision has had devastating consequences for Syria’s Kurds.
They lost thousands of fighters in the battle against the extremists. Now they are now fighting a war on two fronts, with dozens of fighters killed since the new round of fighting began on Wednesday. They lost thousands of fighters in battles against the Islamic State and sought to establish a form of autonomous rule in the lands captured from the jihadists. Now that project has collapsed, and it remains unclear what rights they will retain, if any, should they fall back under Mr. Assad’s government.
The fighting has caused the deaths of dozens of civilians killed in airstrikes, and has forced over 130,000 from their homes, according to the United Nations, and raised the specter of sectarian bloodshed.
Turkish-backed Syrian fighters killed a Kurdish politician and at least two other captives, one with his hands tied behind his back, in what could constitute a war crime. In a video of one of the killings, the fighters used a sectarian epithet to describe the victims. On Sunday, Turkish troops and their Arab proxies made major progress on the ground, seizing the strategic border town of Tel Abyad and prompting celebrations across the border in Turkey.
The fighting has displaced people who have already been forced from their homes several times. In Akcakale, a Turkish border town, residents raced around in cars, flying Turkish flags and honking their horns. Exiled Syrians, many of them from Tel Abyad, climbed onto rooftops to watch the end of the battle as gunfire sounded.
At the camp in Ain Eissa where around 500 ISIS sympathizers staged a breakout on Sunday, the 13,000 other residents include refugees from Iraq who had sought safety in Syria because of war and insurgency at home. Scores of residents fled the camp in the aftermath of an airstrike on Sunday, according to aid workers there. Three wounded Syrian Arab fighters were recuperating in a private apartment near the border in Akcakale after returning from the front line, where they had been shot in an ambush by Kurdish troops.
“Everyone thought that the camp was internationally protected, but in the end there was nothing,” said Mr. al-Iyaf, the administrator at the camp. “It was not protected at all.” The men were from an area controlled by Kurdish forces who they said had prevented them from returning home.
By nightfall, the camp remained unguarded, with Turkish-led forces close to the outskirts of the city, Mr. al-Iyaf said. “We will not stop,” said Abu Qasr al-Sharqiya, 34, who was shot three times in the leg. “We need our houses back, our children’s homes.”
After establishing a foothold on Saturday in Ras al-Ain, a strategic town close to the Turkish border, Turkish troops and their Arab proxies made major progress on the ground on Sunday. A Syrian Arab militia under Turkish command pushed deeper into Kurdish-held territory, blocking major roads, ambushing civilians and claiming the capture of a second strategic town in northern Syria, Tel Abyad, that lies adjacent to the border. On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Erdogan announced that his forces controlled nearly 70 square miles of territory in northern Syria.
On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Erdogan announced that his forces now controlled nearly 70 square miles of territory in northern Syria. They have also taken control of an important highway connecting the two flanks of Kurdish-held territory, the Turkish defense ministry said. This allows Turkish troops and their proxies to block supply lines between Kurdish forces — and cut an exit route to Iraq.
They have also taken control of the important highway connecting the two flanks of Kurdish-held territory, the Turkish defense ministry said. This allows Turkish troops and their proxies to block supply lines between Kurdish forces — and cut an exit route to Iraq.
It also makes it harder for American troops to leave Syria by road.It also makes it harder for American troops to leave Syria by road.
Mr. Erdogan suggested his campaign was now expanding. He announced that the Turkish force would attempt to capture Hasaka, a major Kurdish-run city that sits well beyond the territory that Mr. Erdogan initially said he had set out to capture. Since the Syrian civil war began eight years ago, northern Syria has changed hands several times as rebels, Islamists, extremists and Kurdish factions have vied with the government for control.
Since the Syrian civil war began eight years ago, northern Syria has changed hands several times, as rebels, Islamists, extremist groups and Kurdish factions have vied with government forces for control.
After joining American troops to drive out the Islamic State, the Kurdish-led militia emerged as the dominant force across the area, taking control of former ISIS territory and guarding former ISIS fighters on behalf of the United States and other international allies.After joining American troops to drive out the Islamic State, the Kurdish-led militia emerged as the dominant force across the area, taking control of former ISIS territory and guarding former ISIS fighters on behalf of the United States and other international allies.
But with Turkey making increasing noise in recent months about forcing the Kurdish militia away from its border, the American military began making contingency plans to get about five dozen of the highest-priority detainees out of Syria. With Turkey making increasing noise in recent months about forcing the Kurdish militia away from its border, the American military made contingency plans to get about five dozen of the highest-priority detainees out of Syria.
The planning began last December, when Mr. Trump first announced that he would withdraw troops from the country before his administration slowed down that plan, one official said.The planning began last December, when Mr. Trump first announced that he would withdraw troops from the country before his administration slowed down that plan, one official said.
American special forces moved first to get the two British detainees, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, out on Oct. 9, in part because there was a clear disposition plan for them already in place: The Justice Department is planning to bring them to Virginia for prosecution. They are now being held in Iraq. American special forces moved first to get the two British detainees, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, on Oct. 9, in part because there was a clear plan for them already in place: The Justice Department wants to bring them to Virginia for prosecution. They are now being held in Iraq.
But as the military then sought to take custody of additional detainees, the Kurds refused to cooperate, the two American officials said. Privately, the Kurds — who announced a deal on Sunday with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria — also threatened to call for the United States to leave Kurdish-held territory in northern Syria. But as the military then sought to take custody of additional detainees, the Kurds balked, the two American officials said. The Kurds’ animosity might harden now that they have aligned themselves with Mr. Assad, an American foe.
Now, with the Pentagon withdrawing American forces, the ability to take any more detainees out — even if the Kurds were to start cooperating again — has essentially evaporated, they said. That, combined with the Pentagon’s withdrawal American forces, makes it even less likely the United States will be able to take any more detainees out.
Charlie Savage and Eric Schmitt reported from Washington, Carlotta Gall from Akcakale, Turkey, and Patrick Kingsley from Istanbul. Reporting was contributed by Ben Hubbard from Dohuk, Iraq, Peter Baker from Washington, Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Lebanon, and Iliana Magra from London. Ben Hubbard reported from Dohuk Iraq, Charlie Savage and Eric Schmitt from Washington and Patrick Kingsley from Istanbul. Carlotta Gall contributed reporting from Akcakale, Turkey, Peter Baker from Washington, Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Lebanon, and Iliana Magra from London.