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U.S. Forces Leave 'High-Value' ISIS Detainees Behind in Retreat From Syria
Source: New York Times
U.S. Forces Leave ‘High-Value’ ISIS Detainees Behind in Retreat From Syria
About 700 family members of Islamic State fighters escaped a Kurdish-run camp in northern Syria as Turkish-led assault unleashes chaos.
By Charlie Savage, Eric Schmitt, Carlotta Gall and Patrick Kingsley
Oct. 13, 2019
Updated 5:01 p.m. ET
The American military was unable to carry out a plan 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.
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.
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.
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.
-snip-
About 700 family members of Islamic State fighters escaped a Kurdish-run camp in northern Syria as Turkish-led assault unleashes chaos.
By Charlie Savage, Eric Schmitt, Carlotta Gall and Patrick Kingsley
Oct. 13, 2019
Updated 5:01 p.m. ET
The American military was unable to carry out a plan 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.
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.
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.
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.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/13/world/middleeast/syria-turkey-invasion-isis.html