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Syria's Kurds warn: Chaos from Assad's overthrow is paving the way for ISIS's return!

2024-12-20 09:27:11Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Syria's Kurds warn: Chaos from Assad's overthrow is paving the way for

Old threats are resurfacing in a Syria struggling to rebuild. The chaos since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad is "paving the way" for the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) to make a comeback, according to a top Kurdish commander who helped defeat the jihadist group in Syria in 2019. He says their comeback has already begun.

"Daesh [ISIS] activity has increased significantly and the risk of a resurgence has doubled ," according to General Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance of mainly Kurdish militias. " They now have more capabilities and more opportunities."

He says ISIS militants have seized some weapons and ammunition left behind by Syrian regime troops, according to intelligence reports. Abdi also warns that there is "a real threat" that the militants will try to break into SDF prisons here in northeastern Syria, which hold about 10,000 of their own people. The SDF is also holding about 50,000 of their family members in camps.

The risk of an ISIS resurgence has increased, he tells the BBC , because the SDF is facing increasing attacks from neighboring Turkey, and the rebel factions it supports, and must divert some fighters to that battle. 

Ankara sees the SDF as an extension of the outlawed Kurdish separatists, the PKK, who have waged an insurgency for decades and are designated terrorists by the US and EU. Turkey has long claimed a 30km-long strip of territory in the Kurdish region of northeastern Syria. Since the fall of Assad, efforts to secure that area have intensified. 

“The number one threat now is Turkey, because its airstrikes are killing our forces ,” General Abdi said. “These attacks must stop, because they are distracting us from focusing on the security of the detention centers, ” he said, “although we will always do our best.”

Inside Al-Sina, the largest prison for ISIS prisoners, located in the city of Al-Hasakah, about 5,000 men are held, suspected ISIS fighters or supporters. Each cell door is locked and secured with three bolts. The corridors are divided into sections by heavy iron gates. The guards are masked, with batons in their hands. 

Kurdish security sources say that most of the prisoners in Al-Sina were with ISIS until its last stand and were deeply committed to the terrorist group's ideology.

One of the detainees, a 28-year-old man, told the BBC that he left his native Australia at the age of 19 to visit his grandmother in Cyprus, but then ended up in Aleppo. He claimed he had been working with an NGO in the city of Raqqa when ISIS took control.

He said he had not been involved in any killings, and when asked if he supported what ISIS was doing, he said: "I don't want to answer that question because it might affect my case."   He hopes to return to Australia one day, although he is not sure if he will be welcome.

About a three-hour drive from Al-Sina, behind the barbed wire of Camp Roj, many believe freedom is coming. The camp is home to nearly 3,000 women and children. They have never been tried or convicted, but are the families of ISIS fighters and supporters. All said their lawyers had told them not to speak.

Saida Temirbulatova, a 47-year-old former tax inspector from Dagestan, was the only one who agreed to speak, and she said she hopes Assad's overthrow will mean freedom for her and her nine-year-old son.


"The new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa [head of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham] made a speech, saying he will give everyone their freedom. We want freedom too. We want to leave, most likely to Russia. It is the only country that will take us."

Some Kurdish civilians in the city of Al-Hasakah are also packing their bags, fearing a comeback from the jihadists and another ground attack by Turkey in northeastern Syria.

This would be the fourth invasion by Turkish forces, which is suspected to be imminent.


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