Irbil, Iraq — America's allies within the Center East have lauded the Biden administration for the brazen U.S. particular forces raid in northern Syria final week that noticed the prime chief of ISIS "taken off the battlefield." However as leaders and specialists warn that ISIS is attempting to rebuild, and that decapitating the group will not cripple it for lengthy, there are mounting allegations that a very important U.S. ally within the area is definitely giving ISIS room to breathe.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the umbrella insurgent group of primarily Kurdish fighters that the U.S. relied on for years to guide the bottom conflict towards ISIS in Syria, says Turkey — a NATO member on the sting of the alliance's geographic border with the Mideast — is permitting ISIS a "protected zone" in northern Syria.
The demise of the second prime ISIS commander in three years in a house very near Turkey's border is presenting some awkward questions for the U.S. and its NATO companions.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi blew up himself and members of his household as elite U.S. forces moved in final week, the Pentagon mentioned. He was holed up in a home in Atmeh, a Syrian city lower than two miles from the Turkish border. It was a remarkably comparable operation, with an similar end result, to the 2019 U.S. raid that left ISIS' earlier chief lifeless. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a home southwest of Atmeh, lower than three miles from Turkish soil.
"Many Daesh [ISIS] and al Qaeda leaders are nonetheless alive, protected by Turkey in occupied areas of northeast and northwest Syria," the pinnacle of the SDF's media and knowledge workplace, Farhad Shami, instructed CBS Information the day after al-Qurayshi was killed. "He was protected between three Turkish navy bases. … Is there any doubt that Turkey turned areas of northern Syria right into a protected zone for Daesh [ISIS] leaders?"
Turkey's Protection Ministry didn't reply to a CBS Information request for touch upon the allegations, however a safety supply within the nation dismissed the SDF declare as "completely ridiculous," saying Turkey has been focused by ISIS many occasions previously and that Turkish forces proceed to struggle towards the group.
ISIS has been blamed for a number of main assaults inside Turkey, together with a devastating New 12 months's Eve siege on a preferred Istanbul nightclub in 2017 that the group itself claimed accountability for. That assault alone left 39 individuals lifeless and Turkish officers say, in whole, ISIS has killed 315 civilians within the nation.
There has by no means been any love misplaced between Syria's SDF rebels and Turkey.
Turkish leaders have lengthy thought-about the SDF terrorists — an extension of armed Kurdish separatist teams primarily based in southern Turkey. The chaotic, decade-old civil conflict in Syria has given the Turks cowl to launch navy operations throughout their border, going after Kurdish fighters on Syrian soil. It has made the NATO member a typically troublesome ally for the U.S., given the heavy American reliance on the SDF.
Whereas the U.S. now has just a few hundred troops on the bottom in Syria, nonetheless working with the SDF, Turkey maintains a major navy presence within the nation's north.
A report on final week's U.S. raid compiled by impartial researcher and journalist Alexander McKeever says Turkish forces are primarily based at a number of areas inside simply a number of miles of the home through which al-Qurayshi died.
"How have been two of essentially the most wished males on this planet discovered residing simply exterior Turkey?" wrote McKeever. He mentioned the not too long ago deceased ISIS chief selected a home to cover in that was lower than two miles from a safety checkpoint inside Turkey, and about three miles "from the closest Turkish navy base inside Syria."
"It is fairly obvious that combating the Islamic State is low on Turkish priorities in Syria," he concluded.
The U.S. State Division and the Pentagon declined to touch upon the SDF's allegations, referring CBS Information to the insurgent group and Turkey to debate the matter.
Iraqi officers, together with Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, welcomed the demise of the ISIS chief and mentioned the nation had offered intelligence to the U.S. that exposed al-Qurayshi's whereabouts.
However Iraqi officers are skeptical that the commander's demise will impede ISIS for lengthy.
Latest months have seen a famous uptick within the terror group's operations on either side of the Iraq-Syria border, together with the bloody assault on an SDF-run jail within the northern Syrian metropolis of Hasakah. It was ISIS' boldest transfer in years, leaving 121 SDF fighters, jail employees and civilians lifeless, and a few ISIS prisoners managed to flee.
In a report revealed Wednesday, United Nations Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres mentioned it was estimated that ISIS nonetheless has between 6,000 and 10,000 fighters on either side the Iraq-Syria border.
"ISIS continues to function as an entrenched rural insurgency in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, exploiting the porous border between the 2 international locations, whereas sustaining operations in areas of low safety strain," the report mentioned.
"ISIS is a really ideological group, and killing the chief may have an effect on ISIS for a short while, till they nominate a brand new chief, nevertheless it won't have long run affect," Iraqi safety knowledgeable Fadhil Abu Ragheef instructed CBS Information.
The SDF did welcome the operation to take out ISIS' most up-to-date chief. Commander Mazloum Abdi thanked the U.S. for eliminating al-Qurayshi and for its "persevering with assist."
Shami, the SDF media officer, instructed CBS Information that his group had performed an necessary position within the operation, and that U.S. particular forces launched their raid from a base in SDF territory.
He mentioned the ISIS chief's demise was undeniably factor however warned that if the phobia group continues to profit from a "protected zone" in Syria, will probably be very troublesome to make sure stability within the area.
CBS Information' Camilla Schick and Eleanor Watson in Washington, and Pamela Falk at U.N. headquarters contributed to this report.