Over 750 persons with suspected links to Islamic State flee from displacement camp in north-east Syria

At least 750 people with suspected links to Islamic State have reportedly fled a displacement camp in north-east Syria, local officials have said, raising fears that the Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces in the area could lead Isis to regain strength amid the chaos.

The news came at the same time the US ordered all 1,000 US troops to withdraw “as safely and quickly as possible” from the region after learning that the Turkish operation was likely to extend further than Ankara’s proposed 20m (32km) “safe zone” on the border between the two countries.

The bloody conflict between Turkey and formerly US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters “gets worse by the hour,” defence secretary Mark Esper said on Sunday in a pre-taped interview.

The 249 women and 700 children of the “caliphate” held in a secure annex at the Ain Issa camp began to panic and riot and scared away the guards after Turkish shelling struck close to the area on Sunday, said Abdulkader Mwahed, the joint president for humanitarian affairs in the Kurdish-held part of Syria, in a statement.

Via the Guardian 

Discover more from The Dispatch

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Verified by MonsterInsights