Operation "Source of Peace", launched last October 9 by Turkey, is definitely wrong name. Since the Kurds announced the flight of some 800 jihadist relatives from Ain Issa camp in northern Syria, after a nearby Turkish bombardment, some have questioned the strategy of the Kurdish authorities.
>> Read: Syria: 785 relatives of ISIS flee, Kurds say
Donald Trump, on the front line, issued Monday (October 14th) the hypothesis that the Kurdish forces in Syria have knowingly released relatives of the Islamic State organization to put pressure on the Westerners by frightening them. A maneuver designed to force them to become involved in the conflict, according to the US president.
tWEET TRUMP KURDE
.... Kurds may be releasing some to get us involved. Easily recaptured by Turkey or European countries, but they should move quickly. Big penalties on Turkey coming! Do people really think we should go to war with NATO Member Turkey? Never ending wars will end!
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2019The paradox of Westerners
Is it necessary to think that the Kurdish fighters have liberated this camp to put the pressure on the Westerners? Many observers doubt it. "The fighters who were on guard to protect the camp of Ain Issa mostly left to lend a hand to the combatants of the front line, located in the north-east of Syria", explains to France 24 Samim Akgönül, historian, political scientist and director of the Department of Turkish Studies at the University of Strasbourg. "I do not think there was a deliberate strategy of the Kurds aimed at frightening the West as a first-line." Taken under several fires, they had to establish a hierarchy of powers to fight. Turkey is a state enemy with an air and land army and requires full mobilization. "
Especially as the camp of Ain Issa has very little connection with the Islamic State organization. It is above all an IDP camp that housed, on one side, Syrians who have no roof and on the other, an annex hosting a few hundred women and children of members of the jihadist group , who claim, for the most part, to return to their country of origin.
A double interest for Kurds
Marie Dosé, a lawyer in charge of the defense of several families of jihadists detained in Syria, in connection with local women, assured France 24 that "the women had to leave because the Kurds left. were getting closer to the camp and they had to flee with their children. " In another testimony collected by FranceInfo, a prisoner of the camp goes further by saying that "it is the Kurds who asked them to go out" and "burnt their tents so that they do not come back".
Dropped by Westerners, "it is still possible that the Kurds have seen in the abandonment of this camp, a double interest," nuance the political scientist. By opening the jihadist prison camps, "the Kurds are pushing the powers to take their responsibilities by showing them the direct consequences of Daesh on their territory." They also put western capitals, including France, in the face of their contradictions, side condemn Turkey and, at the same time, ask Kurds and Turks to manage their nationals. "
Information war
Finally, the "Kurds are aware that the war will be won as much on the field of operations as on that of communication". The release of jihadist prisoners is their only means of pressure.
The liberation of the Ain Issa camp is not in itself a threat to France and the Europeans, the Quai d'Orsay said, but the opening of other camps where members of the Islamic State organization remain could become dramatic for the West.
>> Read: The jihadist camps in Syria are not threatened "at the moment", according to Le Drian
It seems that France has taken the threat seriously. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday (October 16th) that he will travel to Iraq in the evening to discuss the creation in that country of an international "device" to try the jihadists in order to quickly transfer these fighters before they are also released.
According to the Kurdish local government, 12,000 suspected ISIS jihadists are being held by Kurdish security forces in northeastern Syria. Apart from the Iraqis, at least 2,500 of them come from about fifty foreign countries, including Tunisia, which would have the largest contingent. In Paris, officials have reported 60 to 70 French nationals among these detainees. The remainder is close to 4,000 Syrians and more or less equal numbers of Iraqis.