Syria: A ‘Caliphate’ by Any Other Name — Would Smell the Same

Sheri Laizer | Exclusive to iKurd.net

HTS jihadists get their feet under the table

Spawned of ISIS and Al Qaeda members that had crossed into Syria from Iraq, jihadis of Syrian, Turkish and transnational origin, the stalwart loyalists of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham have recently being rewarded with positions of authority in Ahmed al-Shaara’s new self-proclaimed ‘government’. This administration is a caliphate in all but name. Al Shaara himself is also clearly a wolf in sheep’s clothing for whom shortening his beard and donning a suit is simply a means to an end.

Within the first three weeks of seizing power by militant force, he has already claimed that elections cannot be held for the next three or so years while his chosen band of HTS jihadists swiftly get their feet under the table. The essential illegitimacy of this militant ‘administration’ derives from its terrorist foundations and perpetuation of Salafist ideology.

In addition to there having been a 1 million dollar bounty on the head of al-Sharaa himself by the US as a ‘wanted terrorist’, a newly appointed brigadier general is an ex-Al Qaeda militant, named Ömer Muhammed Çiftçi (a jihadist born in Omaniye, Turkey).

Media propaganda collusion

Whilst ISIL was condemned, its brothers were soon being hailed as ‘rebels’ and as champions of liberation in Syria – they continue to be cast a such. The objective of regime change – whatever the cost – is a re-run of the destruction wrought upon Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, through having handed power back over to the medieval-minded Taliban.

Why should anyone believe for one moment that Ahmed al-Sharaa is democratic?

There are telling signs that Ahmed al-Sharaa is not different from other Sunni extremist leaders in his beliefs. Examine, for instance, his entourage and the new war cabinet, self styled as the new Syrian Ministry of Defence. Al Sharaa’s former spokesman, Abu Firas al-Suri (i.e. the Syrian) was killed in April 2016 in a drone attack by the United States but the group’s ideology had been focuse all along through pronouncements by its Wahhabist Sharia council along the same lines as Al Qaeda in Iraq and in past action little deviating from the Islamic State. It was dominated by the Salafist thinking of its ideologues Abu Abdullah al-Shami and Sami al-Uraydi.

By December 2012 when still under the banner of Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Shaara’s militants were designated by the US State Department as a sister organisation of Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). [1] The Western media, human rights organisations including the UK Foreign Office-funded, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and policy-dictating think tanks are currently rebranding the recent history of the main protagonists in HTS to justify their overthrow of the Syrian government. As Insight Turkey usefully detailed worthy of recall,

“In early September 2015, Jabhat al-Nusra spearheaded the final push against the Abu al-Zuhur military air base in Idlib governorate, a regime stronghold that had been under siege since 2012, as part of a rebel coalition that included Ahrar al-Sham and the East Turkestan Islamic Party’s (ETIP) growing branch in Syria. Strategically using suicide bombers to open its offensive followed by “inghimasi” (rapid-response, highly-mobile forces used to pierce enemy lines and positions), Jabhat al-Nusra and its allies succeeded in over-running Syrian regime forces and capturing the base. Influential Islamist ideologues were present, both from Jabhat al-Nusra and affiliates of other groups, the two most important being the former’s Abu Abdullah al-Shami and the young Saudi religious scholar Abdullah al-Muhaysini, who was taught by senior politically activist Saudi Salafi religious scholars and is closely affiliated with the Islamic Front and Jaysh al-Fath rebel coalition umbrellas, Harakat Ahrar al-Sham, and the ETIP. Al-Shami oversaw the mass execution of regime soldiers captured at the base, declaring the verdicts to be based on the legal concept of “retaliation in kind” (qisas)…” [2]

Al Sharaa (from the al-Shaar area of Quneitra governorate) made his announcement as Syria’s new ‘ruler’ not from the Syrian Parliament or any civil state building but, tellingly, from the Al Ummayad Mosque in Damascus just as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had done in Mosul when declaring the caliphate there, in expression of the Islamic underpinning of the Islamic State.

The Turkish Al Qaeda official – a Wanted Terrorist

Ömer Mohammed Çiftçi, (nom de guerre Mukhtar Turki – the Turkish Mukhtar) – is a Turkish national born in 1980 in Osmaniye, and former commander of the Omar Brigade now named Brigadier Genera in the new HTS defence ministry. He is believed to have led the so-called Deterrence of Aggression joint operations room formed to overthrow the Syrian government by coordinating armed actions between the various Sunni jihadist groups. The Deterrence of Aggression Operation targeted areas that were still held by the Assad government in Idlib, Aleppo and Hama, two months ago in November 2023 leading to the government’s final and fatal collapse in Damascus on December 7, 2024. The HTS spokesman for the advancing forces at the time was Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Abdul Ghani. [3]

The promotional appointment of Ömer Çiftçi to the new forces is believed to be based on his closeness to al-Shaara formed during their long military campaign to seize control of Syria. [4] It has created a great stir in Turkish political circles not least owing to their countryman being given such a position but equally because of his past association with Al Qaeda that saw his name highlighted on the Turkish Interior Ministry’s Most Wanted Terrorist list – and from which list his name has just been lifted following his appointment by the Turkish MOI without any court order. [5]

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) MP, Murat Bakan, demanded to know via X: “Why was Ömer Çiftçi, wanted for being a member of al-Qaeda in Turkey, removed from the ‘Wanted Terrorists’ list in one day, without a court order? Did his terrorist status disappear when he was promoted to Brigadier General in Syria? If he was not a terrorist, why did you put him on the list?” Was Çiftçi involved in crimes against Turkish soldiers and civilians in Syria?”

Although the question was framed rhetorically, the answer was of course, ‘Yes’ – hence Çiftçi’s designation. His long career with Al Qaeda in Syria, later Jabhat al-Nusra, and subsequently HTS involved suicide bombings and executions, inter alia.

Other key HTS official appointments made as rewards for loyalty include:

Murhaf Abu Qasra – (AKA Abu Hassan al-Hamawi or Abu Hassan) the former HTS military Chief, appointed as Minister of Defense (Telegram channel of the General Command –- Syria, December 31, 2024).

The highest rank, Liwaa, was awarded to the new defense minister. He declared that Kurdish-governed areas would be subsumed under the new authority, as echoed by HTS ally, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock after meeting with her Turkish counterparts similarly said: “The Kurdish groups must be disarmed and integrated into the national security structure”. [6]

Who then will take responsibility for the ISIS prisoners at Al Hol compound?

Al-Shaara bypassed her in the formal shaking of hands, passing directly to Jean-Noël Barrot, the French Foreign Minister stood next to her, owing to her being female. [7]  Together with Barrot, the pair appear to fall into the trap of EU representatives thinking their words are likely to be heeded. Such has been the position with the Shi’a dominated government of Muhammed al-Sudani and his predecessors in the ‘new’ Iraq. Baerbock had claimed “Turkey is an indispensable partner and more closely linked to Germany than almost any other country, she had said in a statement ahead of her first official visit to Turkey” [8] back in July 2022 but more recently, as she reportedly urged upon Foreign Minister and notorious former MIT chief, Hakan Fidan, she took to expressing deep concerns about Turkey’s aggression in northeast Syria, particularly towards Kobani  on her personal X account. In a press briefing, she reiterated these concerns, warning that continued conflict undermines not just Syria but the broader international fight against terrorism.” [9]

Anas Khattab – One of the founders of Jabhat al-Nusra, as AQ’s branch in Syria, was appointed as Head of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate (Al-Mukhabarat al-Amma, GIS). He has close links with the Turkish Intelligence Apparatus (MIT) as does Al Sharaa.

“Despite being designated a terrorist by the United States in 2012 for his ties to the al-Nusra Front and sanctioned under the UN Security Council’s al-Qaeda sanctions list in September 2014, Khattab’s case reveals Turkey’s covert defiance of the UN resolution and disregard for the designation by the US, its key NATO ally…Khattab was recruited by MIT’s Special Operations Directorate (Özel Operasyonlar Başkanlığı), under the leadership of Kemal Eskintan, a former military officer known to jihadist groups by the nom de guerre of Abu Furqan. As the head of the department, Eskintan played a key role in Turkey’s covert operations to support armed jihadist factions throughout the Middle East and Africa, some of which closely aligned with the political objectives of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government… In a 2021 report issued by the (Turkish Interior) ministry, Khattab was designated as affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The report, crafted to reassure critics of Turkey’s commitment to combating ISIS, outlined Khattab’s activities in Syria…According to the report, Khattab was part of a six-member team led by Ahmed al-Sharaa… In August 2021, al-Sharaa was tasked by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the then-leader of ISIS, to establish the group’s Syrian branch. While al-Sharaa was founding the Nusra Front in 2012, Khattab played a critical role as his deputy. The two men split from ISIS in 2014 and pledged their allegiance to al-Qaeda. In coordination with Turkish intelligence, al-Sharaa rebranded the Nusra Front in 2016, first declaring a severance of ties with al-Qaeda and changing the name to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS). In January 2017, JFS was again renamed as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), when it incorporated other groups into its ranks…” [10]

Upon his official appointment, Khattab immediately announced that “all security branches of the previous regime would be dismantled and restructured to better serve the population…” (Telegram channel of the General Command – Syria, December 28, 2024). Reprisals, mass arrests of former government personnel and from the military were already underway and victims were being hung in public in revenge killings – exactly as happened in Iraq and Libya under similar circumtances of foreign intervention and backing of militias.

Ali Nour al-Din al-Na’san – A senior command officer in HTS was appointed Chief of staff and made major general.

Abdul Samriz Yashari – an Albanian national (Abu Qatadah Al-Albani), a senior HTS military commander.

Officers’ ranks were also accorded to trusted Islamists from sister organisations [11] that had worked closely with HTS, including:

Muhammad Diyaa Saleh Tahan – the commander of the Liberation Army.

Jamil Al-Saleh, (formerly holding the rank of major), head of the Jaysh Al-‘Izzah faction, now made colonel.

Ahmed al-Sheikh – (Abu ‘Isa Al-Sheikh), the commander of Suqour al-Sham (Falcons of the Levant) and a native of Idlib was made a colonel.

Abdel Rahman Hussein al-Khatib, a Jordanian HTS fighter of Palestinian origin whose nom de guerre was Abu Hussein al Urduni (meaning the father of Hussein the Jordanian – ‘Urdun’ is the Arabic word for Jordan. Al-Khatib is a member of the Shura Council of HTS who went to Syria in late 2013 and has been reported in the Jordanian media as having a known Salafist Jihadi orientation.

Mohammad Khair Hassan Shuaib (Abu al Khair Taftanaz) – a leader in the HTS armed forces who founded the Syrian Salvation Government Military College and headed the military council comprised of HTS and National Liberation Front fighters.

Abdul Aziz Dawoud Khodaberdi (Abd al-Aziz Daud Khudaberdi aka Abu Muhammad al-Turkistani) – the commander of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) forces in Syria – an al- Qaeda-affiliated Uyghur jihadist group designated as a terrorist organization by China considered synonymous with the East Turkistan Islamic Party (ETIP) and accused of posing a serious threat to the country. TIP also announced the promotion of two other Uyghur jihadist fighters to the rank of colonel. The organisation is also often rendered as ETIP. [12]

Abdo Mohammad Sarhan – (‘Abdo Sirhan) was the commander and emir of Jabhat al- Nusra in his home area of the Eastern Ghouta that saw great devastation. Many of these combatants when taken captive ended up in the military prison Al Sednaya since framed in the Western media as Bashar al-Assad’s innocent victims. Many were terrorists whose leaders killed, captured, tortured and executed more than 100,000 Syrian soldiers, and police in the course of the CIA funded part of the conflict [13] – and for whom Western sympathy is being withheld in service of its policy goals – at last achieved. “…The Syrian government had the right to fight back against a foreign-backed insurgency inside its own country…” [14]

Many other military appointments were made, too numerous to detail here.

Co-ordination between Erdogan’s AKP government, MIT and HTS

Assad Hassan al-Sheybani, the new ‘Foreign Minister’, a graduate of Damascus University from Hasseke undertook further university education in Istanbul and graduated from the İstanbul Sabahattin Zaim Üniversitesi and is still enrolled there as a doctoral candidate. The title of his thesis was “The Impact of the Arab Uprisings on Turkish Foreign Policy towards Syria between 2010 and 2020” (Arap İsyanlarının 2010-2020 Yılları Arasında Suriye’ye Yönelik Türk Dış Politikasına Etkisi).

From 2017 onwards Sheybani became highly active with HTS in its international relations sphere and was responsible for political issues. [15]

Marhaf Ahmed Abu Qasra, the newly named, Defense Minister, met leaders of the Turkish proxy Hamza Division and Suleiman Shah Brigade on December 30, 2024, after an earlier meeting they had held with Ahmed al-Shaara on December 16. He followed this up meeting with Ukrainian officials and included Assad al Shaibani (Sheybani) and his new Intelligence Chief, Anas Khattab. Shaibani said that there will be a “strategic partnership” between Ukraine and Syria during a press conference after the meeting. [16]

The two Turkish-backed jihadist factions had been sanctioned as recently as August 2023 by the US “for committing “serious human rights abuses against those residing in the Afrin region of northern Syria”… “The HTS-led interim government’s frequent and publicized meetings with SNA-affiliated commanders signals that HTS is continuing to heavily favor the SNA and pursuing “strategic relations” with Turkey, both of which have stated their intent to “eliminate” the SDF.”

HTS leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, also met with senior ranking members of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, (former FSA) to “coordinate the new military-security establishment with all rebel organisations,” according officer ranks to cohorts from the various jihadist groups after they agreed to become subordinate to his new regime. [17] [18]

Women – An unequal gender apart

Aisha al-Dibs – A Syrian jihadist naturalised in Turkey now the Head of Womens’ Affairs

Appointed as one of few women to the new ‘interim’ government and its institutions, but named only as ‘head of office’ of Women’s Affairs and not as a ‘minister’, Aisha al-Debs/al-Dibs is the Damascus born daughter of an Islamic scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Fahd Abu Rateb Al-Dibs. [20] One of her brothers passed away in Sednaya prison where he was incarcerated as an Islamic extremist. Although Aisha Hanim has claimed to be a women’s ‘activist’ it is within a strictly Islamic sense. She is a self-confessing fundamentalist that wears a hijab and views women’s role in a limited sphere as dictated by the Koran.

Aisha Al Dibs and the The Turkish Humanitarian Relief and Human Rights and Liberties Organization (IHH)

Aisha al-Dibs acquired Turkish citizenship having been accepted there as a refugee where she acted as the head of the Syrian Associations Platform ( Suriyeli Dernekler Platformu) operating in Idlib and in the Syrian refugee camps in Turkey in liaison with the Turkish run International Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), designated as a terrorist organisation by a number of countries [21] and filmed in the past when delivering supplies to Al Qaeda linked jihadist groups operating in Syria. The pro-Kurdish ANHA agency Hawar news, had chronicled the activities of the IHH in distributing money via the Al Hol camp’s ISIS women prisoners.

“…IHH has seven different centers distributed in Rehaniyah, Kilis, Chanli Urfa, Yayla Daghi in the Turkish interior, near the Syrian border, Bab al-Hawa, Bab al-Salam, and Mount Turkmen in Syria, these points are located in the regions that Turkey now occupies with its mercenaries, were the main points for the entry of thousands of ISIS mercenaries into Syrian territory.

The organization itself announced that it was providing medical aid, medicine and other supplies to this area, and this indicates the extent of this organization’s association with terrorist groups, led by ISIS mercenaries, which had previously controlled those areas.

The IHH was exempted from taxes in Turkey by Turkish Cabinet Resolution No. 2011/1799 of April 04, 2011, which is further evidence that the organization has become affiliated with Erdogan and his ruling party…

Well-informed security sources in Al-Hol camp said that in the recent period, according to its investigations into the transfers that reach the families of ISIS mercenaries, it was found that these transfers come directly through this organization, and are used to smuggle women with foreign nationalities. ‘’ [22]

Turkey’s MIT has also smuggled several foreign ISIS women out of the maximum securityAl Hol camp. If the SDF is to be disarmed, who will ensure that the ISIS prisoners remain in custody – their friends in the IHH?

As the Nordic Monitor had revealed of the IHH back in April 2021, radical Turkish cleric Nurettin (Nureddin) Yıldız who is “often described as the family cleric of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan … was paraded as a keynote speaker at youth events organized by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and conferences and lectures organized by the Turkey Youth Foundation (TUGVA), which is run by Erdoğan’s family. He even travelled to Syria to meet with militant groups and often preached in support of violent jihadist campaigns around the world.” The Russian Ambassador’s killer used to attend his sermons and was linked with the IHH and money transfers to it.

Russia had named the IHH as a runner of arms to jihadists in Syria and as being complicit in the death of its Ambassador, Andrei Karlov. Moreover, the Nordic Monitor also reproduced copies of Turkish court documents and other evidence linking the IHH to Al Qaeda and al-Nusra – later Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, today’s ruler of Syria and Turkish key personnel:

“The network of this highly controversial charity group was accused of smuggling arms to al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadists in Syria in January 2014 in an investigation conducted by a prosecutor in Turkey’s eastern province of Van. The investigation into a Turkish al-Qaeda cell found that İbrahim Şen, a top al-Qaeda operative who was detained in Pakistan and jailed at Guantanamo until 2005 before he was turned over to Turkey, his brother Abdurrahman Şen and others were sending arms, supplies and funds to al-Qaeda groups in Syria with the help of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT), which is run by Erdoğan’s close confidant Hakan Fidan, another Islamist.

“The investigation led to the IHH when wiretaps and surveillance revealed that the Kayseri and Kilis branches of the IHH were sending funds and medical and household supplies to jihadists in Syria. Investigators discovered that Şen enlisted the help of the IHH when he wanted to conceal illegal shipments to jihadists. The prosecutor’s conclusion was that this NGO took part in this scheme knowing full well what it was involved in. It was not random or individual participation but rather a deliberate scheme with the knowledge of IHH management.

Three people identified by the police as partners with Şen in smuggling goods to Syria were Ömer Faruk Aksebzeci (working out of the IHH Kayseri branch), Recep Çamdalı (member of the IHH’s Kayseri branch) and İbrahim Halil İlgi (working out of the IHH Kilis branch). Fearing that the expansion of the probe could lead to senior figures in the IHH and expose the links to his government, Erdoğan quickly moved to quash it. The government dismissed and later arrested all police chiefs and prosecutors who uncovered the IHH’s clandestine dealings with jihadist groups.

The irony in the case of the murder of the Russian ambassador is that the IHH had long been flagged by Russia as an organization that smuggled arms to jihadist groups in Syria, according to intelligence documents submitted to the UN Security Council on Feb. 10, 2016. In other words, while the envoy’s killer was transferring funds to the IHH, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, permanent representative to the UN, was lobbying against the IHH and submitting documents that showed how dangerous the group was. Russian intelligence documents even furnished the license plate numbers of trucks dispatched by the IHH loaded with arms and supplies bound for al-Qaeda-affiliated groups including the Nusra Front.” [23]

Al-Dibs, the former head of this charity, returned from the seat of HTS command in Idlib to Damascus on December 13. She has reportedly:

“expressed extremist views, praising terrorism and criticizing the U.S. and the Arab regimes. She has voiced support for Hamas and its military wing, mourned the death of its leaders, and praised the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack and atrocities in southern Israel, calling the attack “the king of Arab Spring revolts.” Moreover, she has expressed hope for the demise of Israel and of Arab regimes, and has commented, in the context of America’s support for Israel and of Israel’s war on Hamas, that U.S. officials are “murderers” and “criminals” who are destined for Hell”. [24]

Secular commentators, outraged by her statements many of whom have also circulated her utterances via social media emphasise how she has so calmly said “in the end I will not give room to those who disagree with my thinking. “ [25]

She also goes in Turkey by the name of Ayşe Seyidoğlu (Aisha, born of the Seyyid).

Obeida al-Arnaout, the HTS ‘government’ spokesman, has made similar pronouncements on women’s roles to be curtailed in the realms of defence and the judiciary owing to their capabilities being limited by their biology26 – something the female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces women’s armed unit have successfully rebutted through their courageous engagements and military accomplishments in the war against ISIS.

Fundamentalist Islamist ideology also augurs badly for the future of Syrian education with the national, secular curriculum about to be remoulded along Islamic lines. [27]

Travis Timmerman had been held in Sednaya Prison for seven months after entering Syria illegally from Zahle, a Christian town in Lebanon, as an active Christian pilgrim touring Christian areas. He said he had not been ill treated by Syrian government officials when held by Palestine Branch on suspicion of being a spy. [29]

Shadi Muhammad al-Waisi -The new Minister of Justice is a Salafist cleric. He also obtained Turkish naturalisation as did the following listed below. All except the HTS leader acquired Turkish citizenship; al-Sharaa was recently feted by fellow Sunni Islamist, Turkey’s Hakan Fidan. [30] Fidan was pushing for the disarmament of the SDF and Kurdish forces and playing his Trump card. “When we look at it from America’s interests, as a mathematical calculation – whether Turkey or a terrorist organisation like the PKK is more important – Mr. Trump sees the mathematics immediately,” Fidan said. [31]

Videos have just been posted online (and confirmed) showing Turkish naturalised Justice Minister, al-Waisi when in post in Idlib “overseeing the public execution of two women in the northwest city …as part of the application of Sharia law in January 2015 under the rule of the Al-Nusra Front – the precursor to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).” [32] The same chief of executions also stated that all female judges would be removed from the judiciary just after his appointment.

A number of other new officials were also granted Turkish naturalisation in the past. Turkey will do its utmost to support them.

Back in the distant past when the Turkish Army had still been weak in Syria but sought to establish bases there, Omer Çiftçi supported entering into a strategic and military agreement with Turkey. On the back of this, he held close talks with a group inside Turkey and handled Turkish delegations. After the Syrian government suffered reversals in 2020 aiding the founding of Turkish bases in the Jebel Zaviye and Serakib regions Çiftçi was one of the leading names in the Turkish Army’s Syrian formations. [33]

As I detailed in my article of September 22, 2023, Syria: The West’s ‘Red Line’ Fiction: Think Tanks, Jihadists and the White Helmets, “The insightful Rojava Information Center Report bulletins offered further detail, explaining how a high-ranking officer in the Syrian National Army (SNA) said, “The Turkish intelligence service directly studies the files of officers who are nominated to assume leadership positions in the region and appoints the leaders directly. All current commanders in the SNA and its affiliated agencies, including civil police, military police and others, have been approved by the same service.” [33]

Hayat Tahir al-Sham (HTS) took over much of Idlib from Turkish proxies recently with Ankara’s collusion and acquiescence… [34]

US continues to steal Syrian oil and wheat

As I noted in my paper, Business with ISIS – Updated of October 25, 2022:

“…On August 8, the Syrian Oil Ministry had said in a statement that the “US and its mercenaries are stealing an average of 66,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in Syria, nearly 80 per cent of Syria’s oil production of 88,000 bopd. The prolonged crisis has cost Syria’s oil industry direct and indirect losses of $105 billion. [13] They are also accused of looting Syrian tankers and crossing into Iraq via the unauthorised Mahmudiya crossing. Once in Iraqi territory the tankers are then siphoned, according to SANA.

The US now controls key oil and gas fields taken back from ISIS and “When former President Donald Trump said U.S. troops would remain in Syria to “keep the oil” at the end of 2019 he stood beside Erdoğan and said “ We are keeping the oil. We have the oil. The oil is secure. We left troops behind only for the oil. [14] 

The Pentagon raced to deny it: American forces only stayed in Syria to comprehensively defeat ISIS, a spokesman explained; any military presence around the oil fields was purely part of the mission to overcome the so-called Islamic State… The U.S. had come up with a simple if morally and legally dubious plan: help America’s Kurdish partners profit from local oil by keeping it out of the hands of the Assad regime or Islamist militias, and then helping to refine and sell it. These oil fields in the northeast were once part of the network from which ISIS drew a reported $1.5 million in daily revenue. [15]… [35]

More recently, as the anti-Assad government think tank, Strategics, blithely sumarised of the US presence in NE Syria:

“The U.S. military, along with Kurdish forces, controls roughly a third of Syria’s territory in the northeast, stretching from the northeastern part along the Euphrates River to the southeastern area near the al-Tanf border crossing. This region houses the U.S. military base that secures the border triangle between Syria, Jordan, and Iraq. It also contains the majority of Syria’s oil, agricultural, and water resources. (My emphasis).

Meanwhile, the Turkish army is deployed in the Syrian provinces of Idlib, Aleppo, Raqqa, and Hasakah, providing logistic and military support to the CMO and Operation Dawn of Freedom in its fight against the former regime and, currently, against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)”. [36]

What the Strategics piece didn’t add was that the theft of Syria’s oil and grain by US personnel based in that area has been a major reason for the continued American presence there as well as for its pre-coup boost in the number of people freshly deployed there. This follows from the CIA’s long and generous former funding of Hay’at Tahir al-Sham under Operation Timber Sycamore. [37]

Erdogan’s latest cards

Erdogan’s Turkey will do the rest. To this end, the Islamist dictator seeks to buy himself another term in office by playing a double-handed game with the Kurds using a tactic focusing on the alleged willingness of captive PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan, to undermine and disband the PKK (and YPG) – in service of ‘peace’ with Turkey and the new Syrian entity – but that is another story. [38]

1 https://www.insightturkey.com/commentaries/the-multiple-faces-of-jabhat-al-nusrajabhat-fath-al-sham-in-syrias-civil-war and see my paper of the time: Al Qaeda in Iraq bends its knees to ISIS.

Sheri Laizer, a Middle East and North African expert specialist and well known commentator on the Kurdish issue. She is a senior contributing writer for iKurd.net. More about Sheri Laizer see below.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.

Copyright © 2025 Sheri Laizer, iKurd.net. All rights reserved

Related posts:

Weep For Palmyra! Daesh’s distinct threat to the Kurdistan Regional Government Syrian Refugees Looking For a Way Back Fall of Aleppo may Initiate End of Revolution Hiding in Plain Sight: Turkey’s ISIS Links, Al-Baghdadi’s Last Refuge and the Jihadist-Controlled “Safe” Zone US will stay in Syrian Kurdistan to counter IS resurgence, Pentagon says Islamic State group kills 54 fleeing Syrian soldiers: monitor Abominable Abu Mohammed al-Golani, and Sultan Erdogan Teaming up Against Kurds