The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have released an additional 40 suspected Islamic State (terrorist group banned in Russia) members, national media reported on Thursday, citing local sources in Syria
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th January, 2020) The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have released an additional 40 suspected Islamic State (terrorist group banned in Russia) members, national media reported on Thursday, citing local sources in Syria.
According to state-owned Anadolu news agency, the suspected terrorists were released by Kurdish forces in Al Hasakah province of Syria, after local residents vouched for them.
This is not the first time that the YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has released suspected IS terrorists. In October, a high-ranking source told Sputnik that during a Turkish military raid on the Tal Abyad prison in northern Syria, YPG released detainees as a diversion tactic.
On November 17, Turkey's Defense Ministry stated that over 800 IS prisoners were freed during the operation at Tal Abyad, the agency reported.
Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring in October in northeastern Syria to clear the area of Kurdish and IS fighters. The United States and Turkey on October 17 reached an agreement on a 120-hour ceasefire to allow for the withdrawal of YPG forces from an 18-mile wide demarcated safe zone on the Turkey-Syria border.
On December 16, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Russia and the US had failed to clear YPG units from the safe zone, and that Ankara would continue operations to clear the area.
