Safe zone in northern Syria under Turkish control makes ISIS defeat uncertain – U.S. Senator

The U.S. Congress has asked the United States Institute  of Peace (USIP) to conduct a comprehensive study on the Syrian situation and what should the U.S. strategy be in Syria.

The U.S. Institute of Peace worked on the report for a year under the guidance of 12 congressmen concerned with the Syrian issue, to comprehensively observe the Syrian situation and make recommendations on U.S. engagement and its military and diplomatic strategy in Syria. Congress members will go ahead with a roadmap for Syria based on the recommendations of the report made by the (USIP).

At a seminar of issuing the Institute’s final report, which was attended by North-Press, the U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen said that most of what the report has included, corresponds to what she has seen and heard in Syria during her visits and study of the Syrian situation after the killing of the American journalist James Foley, who was a resident of the state represented by Senator Shaheen.

The report said that “the Islamic State group is still present on the Syrian and Iraqi territories, but in a state of silence and anticipation of the U.S. attitude after the sudden announcement of withdrawal.”

Furthermore, the report pointed out that “keeping the U.S. troops, even in a limited number in Syria, would prevent the return of the extremist organization,” in addition to the need for continued humanitarian support to the region where the Islamic State group was defeated.

According to what Sen. Shaheen has witnessed in the region, the amount of $ 200 million has greatly improved the conditions and civilian institutrions in the region.

Sen. Shaheen stressed her support for what the report said that “leaving the north and eastern regions of Syria to be controlled by Assad regime, Russia or Iran, who has caused the greatest human tragedy in modern times, is not possible, and transforming the areas liberated from the extremist organization into what Turkey calls (safe zones) and betraying partners in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), would also be a leap into the unknown.”

Senator Shaheen added that one of the biggest questions we face in Syria and in the final report of the United States Institute of Peace, is that how al-Qaeda Organization turned to the Islamic State in a record time, which had thousands of troops and capabilities, “to be able to raise funds for terrorist actions and operations which worth 1.4 billion dollars in a year, and managed to enter the regions in Syria and Iraq to become an international terrorist organization conducting terrorist operations, even in the United States and Western capitals.”

“From reviewing all the suggestions, we conclude that it was worth the effort and wait for a year, as we are now facing a comprehensive understanding of the bloodiest conflict in contemporary history, which has taken its toll on more than 500,000 Syrians and resulted in the largest refugee crisis since the WWII,” she said. 

Moreover, she added: “The conclusions and what I saw in my visits to the north and east of Syria after its liberation from the Islamic State  group, in addition to my meetings with the commanders of the SDF and the Arab local councils, we conclude that it is foolish to withdraw the few remaining U.S. troops in the region, despite the lack of their number, they still make a positive effect. These areas have returned to normal life and farmers have returned to work, and it is unwise to leave it to those who caused the greatest humanitarian crises, or betray our allies in the SDF and leave their fate in the hands of Turkey.”

The U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen stressed that in both Iraq and Syria, the fighting militants of the Islamic State assure us that the organization exists through 18 thousands of its affiliates, who are distributed between Syria and Iraq, in addition to thousands of detainees of them in the two countries, and that they have an experience in northeastern Syria which Sen. Shaheen called “surprisingly successful”, where the region has become a safe environment for refugees and a suitable background for the return of the economy to run and work. She said: “We walked unguarded with Senator Lindsey Graham in Manbij and met with the SDF commanders, who assured us that maintaining the status quo and the U.S. impact in the region are enough for the failure of the extremists to return and take Syria as a starting point of their terror. “