126 children have been freed from the SDF’s alleged “ISIS prisons” after the government stormed into the territories under SDF’s control during the past week. The SDF’s military positions in north-eastern Syria collapsed as soon as the last remaining US forces in the region retreated.
Children freed from the SDF’s camps were hungry, scarred and without shoes. Some of them recounted a history of torture, isolation, lack of food and solitary conditions under cold temperatures. These children were allegedly the children of ISIS members, however many people being freed from these camps do not have any connection with ISIS and many of them are also political prisoners and petty criminals. Many women have also been freed. Many of these prisoners have been incarcerated for more than 7 years without any due process.
Now, the SDF only has control of a couple of areas and cities including Kobani which is currently surrounded by government troops.
There are reports of alleged war crimes by the Syrian government forces in Raqqa but there is no evidence of any systematic killings. A Syrian government fighter filmed himself showing a lock of hair of a Kurdish fighter who was allegedly slain in combat. The video raised concerns of ongoing war crimes.
The SDF previously signed an agreement with the Syrian government to integrate with the government forces but have refused to apply the document while threatening the government with war over the Aleppo issue.
The SDF previously agreed to a ceasefire agreement with Russia and Bashar Al-Assad to consolidate their gains and preserve their independence. The SDF always used to reiterate that they preferred to consolidate Kurdish independence instead of fighting the Assad regime. They committed themselves not to start new conflicts outside their borders.
When the Assad regime was collapsing during Operation Deterrence Against Aggression, the SDF swooped into Aleppo and took over Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood with the pretense that it was a Kurdish neighbourhood. The brazen act of opportunism was highly unusual and contradictory to the policy by the SDF which supposedly was aimed at consolidating independence instead of starting new conflicts. It basically showed that the SDF was going to abuse its power if it had the opportunity to do so.
Following threats by the SDF to march to Damascus, the government than clamped down on the SDF’s units in Aleppo and forced them out.
The SDF also applied political repression against their subjects particularly against Sunni Muslims.
Footage and testimonies by freed children and prisoners from their camps are not helping the SDF’s case.
The Syrian government, which has officially joined the international coalition against ISIS, is currently trying to ensure a stable handover of the “ISIS prison camps” but some ISIS prisoners haver also escaped during the changeover. The government alleges that the SDF have deliberately freed some ISIS prisoners from the Al-Shaddadi prison in the Hasakah province.
Newsroom
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