Contradictory statements from US, Syrian Democratic Forces in negotiations with Islamic State

As the operations for taking Syria's Raqqa city from Islamic State approach the final phase, contradictory statements come from the U.S. and Kurdish YPG forces on the evacuation of IS jihadists
Wednesday, 18 October 2017 00:35

As four months have passed since the operation launched by the Kurdish YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces to take control of Syria’s Raqqa city from the Islamic State, some contradictory statements come from the forces on the ground about the fate of nearly 500 IS terrorists stuck in a narrow area. 

CONTRADICTORY STATEMENTS

Some Syrian opposition sources have claimed that the last Islamic State (IS) militants stuck in Raqqa have negotiated with the U.S.-backed coalition, and agreed to leave the city according to these discussions.

However, U.S. Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesperson for the anti-IS Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) led by the U.S. Central Command-led (CENTCOM), has immediately denied the allegations.

The statement on October 10 argued that some steps were taken to minimise the number of civilian casualties from the Syrian Kurdish YPG-led (People’s Protection Units) “Raqqa Civil Council and elders of Arabian tribes.”

The OIR statement of October 14 reads: “A convoy of vehicles is staged to depart Raqqah Oct. 14 under an arrangement brokered by the Raqqah Civil Council and local Arab tribal elders Oct. 12. The arrangement is designed to minimise civilian casualties and purportedly excludes foreign Daesh terrorists,”

Therefore, the U.S. has reached the point in four days that “Only the Syrian IS members will be evacuated from Raqqa.”

Although the U.S. partly approves the agreement with its second statement, some other remarks came from the YPG and the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces). Talking to French AFP on October 14, YPG’s spokesperson Nuri Mahmoud said, “We deny any negotiations or deal.”

On the other hand, SDF spokesperson Telal Silo said that the IS militants “have no choice but surrender or death.” Denying all these three sources, Omar Alloush, a member of Raqqa Civil Council, who mediates the negotiations with the IS, said that the arrangement was settled for the evacuation of IS members including some part of foreign militants.

The U.S. allegation that “foreign IS members will not be evacuated” is noteworthy as a move to loosen the reservations of France.

The founder of Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based information office in favour of Syrian opposition, Rami Abdulrahman, told German DPA agency that the French intelligence did not approve the agreement, because the IS cell which conducted the terror attack that killed 130 in November 2015 in Paris could be among around 400 IS fighters who were still in Raqqa. Abdulrahman had alleged the evacuation of IS jihadists for the first time.

500 IS JIHADISTS TO BE SENT TO FRONTS AGAINST THE SYRIAN ARMY

Even though the U.S. justifies the agreement with the IS “for preventing civilian casualties”, this allegation seems open to question.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s OR envoy Brett McGurk announced via his Twitter account on October 9 that “75 coalition airstrikes were conducted on remaining IS holdouts in last 48 hours” in an area of around 2 sq km where thousands of Raqqa’s civilians were stuck.

According to the SOHR, the number of civilians killed with the U.S. airstrikes is 1272 in Raqqa while the number of killed IS militants is 1331, which makes the situation controversial on whether the airstrikes were conducted discriminatingly.

The destruction of U.S. airstrikes in Raqqa is so huge that the UN High Commission Office for Human Rights stated that the civilians in Raqqa paid an unacceptable price, which is why the U.S. and its allies “might have committed war crimes”.  

Omar Alloush from Raqqa Civil Council strikingly noted that around 500 IS jihadists in the city would be sent to Deir ez-Zor.

Nowadays, the Syrian army has headed to the IS’ remaining holdouts near the Iraqi border.

The U.S. wants the SDF to seize this region before the Syrian army reaches there, for it consists the richest oil reservoirs of Syria. Therefore, when the Syrian army reached the besieged Deir ez-Zor after three years, the SDF started an extensive operation in the region between southern Sheddadi and Deir ez-Zor-Iraq border.

The SDF reached up to the Khabur River. However, the Syrian army could take the control of al-Mayadeen city, stepping forward in the competition.

The IS uses its primary force against the Syrian army in the region as it has become more vital for itself. Finally, the group started an operation in the name of its killed spokesperson Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, attacking Syrian army holdouts in the south of Deir ez-Zor.

On the other hand, Russia said that the IS transferred around 1,000 militants from Iraq for this operation, and blamed the U.S. for allowing these transfers.

THE SYRIAN ARMY’S AGREEMENTS

The Syrian army too had come to agreements on the evacuation of the IS and other armed groups. However, unlike others, these agreements had been openly announced.

The number of militants, whether they had arms, and the route of the evacuation had been disclosed before these agreements, which had involved international organizations such as the Red Cross.

Moreover, the Syrian army had agreed on sending the militants to active fronts again in accordance to the entire agreements. The allies are sharing contradictory information about the Raqqa deal which is still not clear.

THE U.S. CHANGES ITS TUNE

Although the U.S. says it has no part in the negotiations and the agreement which it alleged to agree on October 12, a BBC report is striking since it shows that the U.S. commanders held a meeting in the same day with Raqqa Civil Council and Arabian tribal elders mediating the negotiations.

This is not the first agreement between the IS and the U.S.-backed forces. Previously, the IS agreed with the YPG, withdrawing from the cities of Manbij and Tabqa. Despite these agreements, the U.S. criticized Russia, the Syrian army and Hezbollah for the Ersal agreement.  

In August, the U.S. severely criticized Hezbollah and the Syrian army for sending 300 IS jihadists stuck in Lebanon’s Ersal region to Deir ez-Zor. While McGurk shared a Twitter message, “the IS should be killed instead of being transferred by buses”, the U.S. CENTCOM alleged that Russia’s and Syria’s promises for anti-IS campaign in accordance to the Ersal deal “sounds like empty vessels”.

CENTCOM stated: “The IS is a global threat, the transfer of terrorists would not be a permanent solution.”