CENTRAL NEWS – The turkish state launched several operations in the North East of Syria (Rojava) during the period of 2016 and 2019, under the pretext of fighting terrorism.
- Operation Euphrates Shield, 2016 (Al-Bab)
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Operation Olive Branch, 2018 (Afrin)
- Operation Peace Spring, 2019 (Serekaniye and Gire Spi)
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Operation Spring Shield, 2020 (Idlib)
The turkish state engaged in such operation with not larger operatives, but with thousands of their supported “syrian-rebels” from different forces and from nationalists organizations from turkey, such as the Turkistan Islamic Party. After conquering this territories and illegally occupying them, turkey has supported and trained this salafis groups who have thousands of ex-ISIS members among their ranks.
In 2018, an article published by the Independent said: “Turkey accused of recruiting ex-Isis fighters in their thousands to attack Kurds in Syria”
THE TURKISH OPERATIONS ARE JUST A PRETEXT TO GREW UP IN FORCES AGAINST THE KURDISH PEOPLE
After Operation Peace Spring, it was the American Treasury Department has announced a new round of counterterrorism designations targeting the Islamic State’s support network. Among those sanctioned are two brothers — Ismail and Ahmet Bayaltun — who are based in Turkey and have acted as procurement agents for the group. The U.S government’s new designations are the latest in a series identifying Islamic State front companies, facilitators and other personnel in Turkey.
Earlier 2019, the U.S. government designated members of the Rawi Network operating in Turkey. The Rawi Network originally helped Saddam Hussein’s regime evade sanctions, but became a core financial apparatus for the Islamic State.
In 2017, the Treasury Department said that another jihadist, Salim Mustafa Muhammad al-Mansur, had relocated to Turkey after serving as the Islamic State’s “finance emir” in Mosul, Iraq. Other facilitators in Turkey have been officially sanctioned as well.
PLENTY OF VISUAL EVIDENCE
Not being enough, there are plenty of visual evidence of those allegations that verify them. Videos, pictures and propaganda of those groups can be found online where they are wearing Salafis symbols beside the flag of Turkey.
The American sanctions, as well as other evidence, raise questions about Turkey’s permissive environment. While the Turkish government reportedly cracks down on Islamic State networks from time to time, the country continues to host key parts of the group’s infrastructure. However, being turkey a member of NATO, its clear that this “contradictions” are just imposed due to their own interests in the conflict. Both US and turkey have the same goal…to destroy the Revolution taking place and Rojava and undermine the self-defence forces of Rojava and its people.
Recently, on Februrary, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said that Turkey — a NATO member on the edge of the alliance’s geographic border with the Mideast — is allowing ISIS a “safe zone” in northern Syria. The death of the second top ISIS commander in three years in a home very close to Turkey’s border is presenting some awkward questions for the U.S. and its NATO partners.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi blew up himself and members of his family as U.S. forces moved in February. He was holed up in a house in Atmeh, a Syrian town less than two miles from the Turkish border. It was a remarkably similar operation, with an identical outcome, to the 2019 U.S. raid that left ISIS’ previous leader dead. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a house southwest of Atmeh, less than three miles from Turkish soil.
“Many Daesh [ISIS] and al Qaeda leaders are still alive, protected by Turkey in occupied areas of northeast and northwest Syria,” the head of the SDF’s media and information office, Farhad Shami, told CBS News the day after al-Qurayshi was killed. “He was protected between three Turkish military bases. … Is there any doubt that Turkey turned areas of northern Syria into a safe zone for Daesh [ISIS] leaders?”
RECENT ISIS ATTACK IN AL-HASAKA PRISON
ISIS militants backed by Erdoğan’s regime in Turkey launched an attack on the Sina’a Prison on January 20th, the declaration anniversary of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
5,000 ISIS prisoners from 54 nations were detained at the Sina’a Prison in Hesekê (Hasakah) in Rojava (northern Syria). As a result, ISIS militants backed by Erdoğan’s regime in Turkey launched an attack to rescue them on January 20th, 2022 – a date which was chosen because it is the declaration anniversary of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
The first step in their attempted escape was a coordinated riot at Sina’a Prison, which began on January 20th at 7:30 pm, at the same time as a suicide car bomb explosion against the prison gate and walls. This initial attack killed several guards on the perimeter of the prison and began a larger assault by ISIS attackers in order to support the riot now beginning inside.
The shock troops of this well-organized prison break were over 200 ISIS members from Turkish-occupied areas of Rojava (Serê Kaniyê & Girê Spî) and the border areas near Iraq. And as their assault began, the ISIS inmates began to burn their blankets to cause chaos and confusion inside. Seeing this emerging threat to the region, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) sent fighters to reinforce the civilian security forces and prison guards, but they were attacked by Turkish military drones and aircraft, who were providing air cover for the ISIS assault.
According to the information and the confessions, some of the ISIS cells came from the occupied areas such as Serêkaniyê / Ras al-Ain and Girê Spî / Tal Abyad, and another part came from Iraq as support for them. But the plan and the operations room, according to the documents, were prepared outside the Syrian borders.
Certainly, the ISIS attack was not born suddenly. After the Al-Baghouz victory and the ending of ISIS geographically, the terrorist organization deliberately reconfigured and revived itself to suit the new conditions to reorganize its ranks, and restore its former strength, by imposing fear and terror on the community and the people of the region. It always had attempts to attack our troops, especially in the areas of “Deir ez-Zor, Al-Raqqa, and Al-Shadadi” as well as on the Iraqi-Syrian border line.
For more than three years, our forces have been waging a relentless struggle against the terrorist organization ISIS to prevent it from restoring its power. What happened in Al- Sina’a prison suggests that ISIS has exploited the political conditions and directly or indirectly relied on some regional countries such as the Turkish state to carry out its attack, as the Turkish state attacks NE Syria, which gives ISIS moral strength to catch its breath again to reorganize its ranks.
The occupied areas of Serêkaniyê/Ras al-Ain and Girê Spî/Tal Abyad have also become the safest and most protected areas for ISIS to organize itself and train its cells. Some of the mercenaries who attacked Al-Sinaa prison came from those areas, so Turkey bears responsibility for the terrorist attacks on the region.
Outcome
The mercenaries of the terrorist organization “ISIS” within the prison brutally killed 77 employees of prison institutions and guards. In the clashes and battles outside the prison, which lasted for seven days, 40 of our fighters were martyred. And 4 citizens rose to the rank of martyrdom.
In the overall outcome of the “Hammer of the Peoples” campaign, 121 of our fighters and prison workers heroically rose to the rank of martyrdom.
Once again, we remember with reverence all our martyrs.
The death toll of ISIS terrorists: 374”
