Serêkaniyê and Girê Spi ... War crimes, ISIS revival amid international community silent - 3

Turkey revives ISIS again, weaponizes water against civilians

Since the early of the Syrian crisis, Turkey has worked to topple the Syrian regime through the Muslim Brotherhood, and invested in al-Qaeda groups in Syria, especially Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS, which subsequently announced its disengagement from al-Qaeda.

Turkey used these groups to control the Syria but its plan failed, it intervened directly to establish an army of mercenaries to fight wherever it wants. This is what happened later in the Libyan crisis as well as the Armenian and Azeri crisis over the Republic of Artsakh / Karabakh.

Turkeys goal of attacking Serêkaniyê and Girê Spi / Tal Abyad on October 9, 2019, was reviving ISIS, that was geographically eliminated in March in its last stronghold in Al-Baghouz in Deir ez-Zor countryside. This is confirmed in Turkish policies of arresting the Kurdish politicians in Bakûr under the name "Kobane Campaign", as it arrested the politicians who supported Kobane during the ISIS attacks on it on September 15, 2014.

ISIS revival after elimination

In March of 2019, the Syrian Democratic Forces eliminated ISIS geographically. The SDF forces arrested more than 19,000 ISIS mercenaries, and detained more than 40,000 of their families, most of whom are now in Al-Hol camp.

According to Robar Hassan, who is in charge of ISIS prisons, there are "12 thousand Syrian ISIS militants, 5000 Iraqi, and 1000 foreign ISIS militants from 55 foreign countries in their detention centers in the regions of northeastern Syria."

The Turkish attack on Serêkaniyê and Girê Spi came for relieving pressure on ISIS cells, as the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Global Coalition began campaigns to arrest the members of these cells after eliminating them geographically.

In addition to Turkey's primary goal of releasing mercenaries, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Autonomous Administration have repeatedly warned that any Turkish attack on the region will push it to suspend its military operations against ISIS and defend the region from Turkish attacks.

During its attack on the region, the Turkish occupation army targeted the detention camps of ISIS families.

Many prisons of families of ISIS mercenaries were subjected to Turkish bombing, in an effort by the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries to undermine the security of the region, occupy the SDF fighters to release the mercenaries and revive the ISIS cells in the area.

On October 11, two days of the attack, the occupation army bombed a prison designated for foreign mercenaries of ISIS in the western countryside of the city of Qamishlo, “Nafkour Prison”, leading to the escape of 5 foreign mercenaries, and this is was documented by surveillance cameras, and the Syrian forces confirmed Democracy also does that on its official website.

ISIS sleeper cells began to move in conjunction with the Turkish attacks. On the night of October 11, coinciding with the Turkish attack in Nafkour prison, ISIS mercenaries detonated a car bomb near the Goyran prison of ISIS foreign mercenaries in the city of Al-Hasakah.

On October 13, the Turkish occupation army targeted Ain Issa camp, which housed the families of foreign ISIS mercenaries, which led to losing control in the camp and their escape and heading to the Turkish border.

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria said that 785 foreigners affiliated with ISIS fled from Ain Issa camp in coordination with a group of Turkish mercenaries and under cover of Turkish bombing.

On the same day, the Turkish occupation army bombed the vicinity of an ISIS prison in the center of Kobane district on the hill of "Mashta Nour", with several rocket-propelled grenades.

ISIS sleeper cells began targeting the Syrian Democratic Forces on the vital roads that they used in logistical support for the areas that were exposed to the Turkish occupation's attacks.

In this context, on October 16, ISIS mercenaries targeted the bridge links Ain Issa- Al-Raqqa, and ISIS officially claimed the attack.

Likewise, ISIS movements increased in the southeastern countryside of Al-Hasakah, the Khabur Basin, and the northeastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, Al-Tabqa, Al-Raqqa and Manbij. They deliberately bombed roads and targeted the Syrian Democratic Forces in these areas.

In this context, the leader of the Anti-Terrorism forces of   the SDF, Mazloum Hassan, stressed that the Turkish attack gave hope to ISIS mercenaries to recover again.

He said, "We noticed that the cells movement increased intensively in Al-Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, Al-Tabqa and Manbij in conjunction with that attack."

The ISIS mercenaries in the detention centers also began to move in conjunction with the Turkish attacks, as many riots occurred in Al-Sinaa and Goyran detention facilities in Al-Hasakah, and the Rash Prison in the city of Derik, Al-Raqqa, and Al-Shaddadi, taking the opportunity of the decrease in the number of fighters in the guard. According to what was confirmed by the security official, Murad Ali.

The riots expanded to the detention camps of ISIS families in the Autonomous Administration regions that witnessed similar movements, especially in Al-Hol camp, the most dangerous camp in the world, as ISIS women gathered in some sections and raised ISIS flags and launched the takbeer. They targeted the security forces in an attempt to flee.

In this context, the spokesman for the Internal Security Forces in NE Syria, Ali Al-Hassan, confirmed that "the increased escape attempts of ISIS families timed with the attack of the Turkish occupation army on the regions of NE Syria,". He indicated that more than 700 escape attempts have failed from Al-Hol camp.

Al-Hassan explained that most of the smuggling networks are affiliated with the Turkish intelligence, they helped them to flee to Turkey.

Damascus government cells move

Destabilizing the region attempts were not limited to the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries. Rather, the Syrian government sought to exploit them in its favor, by forming armed groups under the name of "Popular Resistance" after visits by the Director of the National Security Office of the Baath Party, Ali Mamlouk, to the region and his meeting with the Baathists.

they formed groups began to spread rumors that the Autonomous Administration areas had returned to the control of the Damascus government, after deploying the Syrian border guards, accompanied by the Russian military police,following the Russian-Turkish agreement on a ceasefire on October 22, 2019.

These cells sought to sow sectarian strife and target notables and Arab clan leaders, and accusing the SDF of targeting them.

In this context, the Co-chair of the Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration, Yerivan Khaled, says that all cells in NE Syria benefited from the attack and exploited them to strike security through bombings, assassinations, or targeting some security points.

Infrastructural destruction

Since its attacks, Turkey has caused catastrophic situations, such as targeting civilians on the "international" M4 highway, connecting Al-Jazira and the Euphrates, and blocking the commercial traffic, which negatively affected the economic situation.

Infrastructure was also badly affected, such as the Aoun al-Dadat Bridge, located in the north of Manbij that connect it with occupied Jarablus, as this bridge is the main crossing between the northern countryside of Manbij and the city.

In addition to cutting water to nearly a million people in the Al-Hasakah region, which is classified as a crime against humanity, as the Turkish occupation controls the Alouk station and uses it as a weapon it against civilians from time to time.

The Mabrouka power station was also out of service. It is the point of transferring electricity from the Tishreen and Al-Tabqa dams to Al-Jazira region.

In this context, Berivan Khaled said, "The attack affected the security and stability of the region greatly and caused a humanitarian catastrophe, as it occupied two cities and forcibly displaced more than 300,000 people from the two cities, in addition to the educational process being halted after more than 86 schools were out of service."

She pointed out that the occupation’s control over some vital strategic points that serve the people, "The International Road, Alouk Station, and Mabrouka Power Station", pushed for instability in the region, as a result of the use of these centers as weapons against the people of the region.

(A)

ANHA