ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th October, 2019) Reports about the flight of insurgents of the Islamic State terrorist organization (IS, banned in Russia) from the Ayn Issa camp in north Syria, where Turkey has recently launched a military operation against terrorists and Kurdish militia, are "disinformation," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.
Earlier, the local administration of the Kurdish autonomy in north-west Syria claimed that 785 IS-affiliated foreign terrorists had fled the Ayn Issa camp in the Raqqa province, controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, the military wing of the Kurdish autonomy.
"They continuously broadcast disinformation about IS terrorists having fled the prison. They do it to incite the United States and the West. The leaders, with whom I am in touch, ask me about it all the time," Erdogan said at a press encounter in Istanbul.
The camp, located 7 miles south of the Turkish border, is home to 7,000 displaced persons, among whom 785 are suspected members of the Islamic State. On Friday, the Kurdish administration announced plans to evacuate the camp's residents and move them to al-Arisha camp south of the city of Hassakah.
On Wednesday, Erdogan announced the launch of Operation Peace Spring in north Syria against the IS terrorists and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Ankara designates as terrorists. The air component of the operation has begun the same day in the Ras al-Ain town of Al Hasakah province, while the land operations have been launched shortly after. As of Saturday, the Turkish army reported killing 459 Kurdish militia.
The Turkish offensive in northern Syria is part of Ankara's long-standing goal to clear its border area of both Kurdish militia and IS terrorists and create a so-called safe zone along the cleared line. The military operation has already resulted in civilian deaths on both sides of the border. Damascus views the operation as a violation of Syria's territorial integrity. A number of countries, including Russia, have called upon Turkey to refrain from actions that could create obstacles for the peace process in Syria, where a civil war has been ongoing since 2011.
