Kurds fear rise of IS again

As the new Syria struggles to take shape, old threats are re-emerging. The chaos since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad is "paving the way" for the so-called Islamic State (IS) to make a comeback, according to a leading Kurdish commander who helped defeat the jihadist group in Syria in 2019. He said the comeback has already begun.

"Activity by Daesh [IS] has increased significantly, and the danger of a resurgence had doubled,” General Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a mainly Kurdish militia alliance backed by the US, was quoted as saying  by BBC. "They now have more capabilities and more opportunities."

He said that IS militants have seized some arms and ammunition left behind by Syrian regime troops, according to intelligence reports.

He warned there is "a real threat" that the militants will try to break into SDF-run prisons here in north-east Syria, which are holding about 10,000 of their men. The SDF is also holding about 50,000 of their family members in camps

Gen Abdi  welcomed the fall of the Assad regime - which detained him four times. But he looked weary and admitted to frustration at the prospect of fighting old battles once again.

"We fought against them [IS] and paid 12,000 souls," he said, referring to the SDF's losses. "I think at some level, we will have to go back to where we were before."

The risk of an IS resurgence is heightened, he said, because the SDF is coming under increasing attacks from neighbouring Turkey - and rebel factions it supports - and must divert some fighters to that battle. He said SDF had to stop counter-terrorism operations against IS, and hundreds of prison guards - from a force of thousands - had to return home  to defend their villages.

Ankara views the SDF as an extension of the PKK - banned Kurdish separatists who have waged an insurgency for decades, and are classed as terrorists by the US, and the Europena Union.  

Turkey has long wanted a 30-km "buffer zone" in the Kurdish region in northeastern Syria. Since Assad's fall, it is pushing harder to get it.

"The number one threat is now Turkey because its airstrikes are killing our forces," said General Abdi. "These attacks must stop, because they are distracting us from focusing on the security of the detention centres," he said, "though we will always do our best."

At the same time, Gen Abdi told Reuters that  Kurdish fighters who came to Syria from around the Middle East to support Syrian Kurdish forces would leave if a total ceasefire is reached in the conflict with Turkey in northern Syria,

Abdi said Kurdish fighters from Iran, Iraq and Turkey had first come to Syria to help drive the jihadists back from Kobani. Following the battle of Kobani, some - such as Iraq's Peshmerga - had returned home.

Kurdish security sources say most of the prisoners in Al-Sina were with IS until its last stand and were deeply committed to its ideology.

Some Kurdish civilians in the city of Al-Hasakah fear a comeback by the jihadis and another ground offensive by Turkey in north-eastern Syria. This would be the fourth invasion by Turkish forces.