Omar Abdulkader and Tucker Reals
CBS News, Feb. 9, 2022
“Many Daesh [ISIS] and al Qaeda leaders are still alive, protected by Turkey in occupied areas of northeast and northwest Syria. 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?”
America’s allies in the Middle East have lauded the Biden administration for the brazen U.S. special forces raid in northern Syria last week that saw the top leader of ISIS “taken off the battlefield.” But as leaders and experts warn that ISIS is trying to rebuild, and that decapitating the group won’t cripple it for long, there are mounting allegations that a vital U.S. ally in the region is actually giving ISIS room to breathe.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the umbrella rebel group of mainly Kurdish fighters that the U.S. relied on for years to lead the ground war against ISIS in Syria, says 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.
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