The transfer of 195 Daesh prisoners, first freed by the PKK's Syrian wing People's Protection Units (YPG) and later recaptured by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), to a detention center has been caught on camera by TRT World.
Sara Firth, a TRT World reporter, shared the video on Twitter late Friday, said that many of the prisoners are Europeans.
VIDEO — TRT World captures moments when Daesh prisoners freed by the YPG and recaptured by the Free Syrian Army, are transferred to detention centers pic.twitter.com/QQDak3hdnS
— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) October 18, 2019
France's Le Parisien newspaper also previously published a story regarding the issue, citing Daesh terrorists reaching out to the paper.
The militants kept in a prison in Ayn Issa, 50 km north of the terrorist group's former de facto capital Raqqa, were set free by YPG/PKK terrorists, according to Le Parisien.
Citing one of the Daesh members that reached the paper via social media, Le Parisien said that the YPG told them to "get out, run."
"All of a sudden, the Kurds told us 'Get out, run!' We did not understand anything," one Daesh member told the newspaper. "They opened the doors for us, then they burned the tents where we lived."
The authors of the piece, Le Parisien's Edith Bouvier and Céline Martelet, later question the very possibility that more Daesh terrorists might be set free by YPG militants.
The PKK-affiliated YPG has been trying to use captured Daesh terrorists as a bargaining chip, hoping to provoke the West against Turkey by issuing false statements, saying Ankara was targeting the camp with strikes.
Turkish and U.S. delegations reached an agreement on Thursday to pause Turkey's counterterrorism operation in northern Syria for 120 hours, in which the PKK terrorist group's Syrian affiliate YPG is expected to withdraw from the designated safe zone area.
In theory, the deal responds to Turkey's years' long concerns and expectations but the U.S. has backtracked on its deals before, which leaves the country in a precarious position. The NATO ally's continuing contact and support for the YPG means Ankara is approaching the process rather cautiously.
Thursday's meeting, co-chaired by Erdoğan and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, lasted for two hours and 40 minutes and ended with a 13-article joint statement. The deal includes the collection of the YPG's heavy weapons, the withdrawal of the YPG from the safe zone within 120 hours and the removal of U.S. sanctions on Turkey. It was stated that the safe zone will be primarily enforced by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) while two sides agreed that closer coordination on the basis of common interests is vital.
