The Syrian army, with Russian air support, broke a three-year siege of eastern Syrian territories by ISIS in Deir Ezzor on 5 September.
The US Air Force reportedly evacuated the 20 ISIS field commanders from the Syrian city after it was liberated by Syrian government forces. Sputnik cited a military and a diplomatic source.
“Amid successful actions by Syrian government troops in the eastern part of Syria in late August, a number of field [Daesh] commanders backed by US special services, had been promptly evacuated from Deir Ezzor to safer regions in order to use their experience in other directions,” the source claimed.
On August 26, a “US Air Force helicopter” had evacuated 2 ISIS field commanders of “European origin” with members of their families in the north-west of the city at night, according to the source. Two days later, “US choppers” flew 20 ISIS field commanders and their close support to northern Syria.
“Militants who lost their commanders due to the Americans, usually tend to cease organised actions, leave their positions, join other [Daesh terrorist] units or one by one flee. This eventually contributes to the success of the offensive by the Syrian government troops in eastern Syria,” the source explained.
The US-led coalition called the allegations false, but retired US Air Force Lieut Col. Karen Kwiatkowski says this is standard operating procedure for CIA black ops looking to cover their trail after an operation.
Kwiatkowski told Sputnik that ISIS commanders were likely individuals that the US military and intelligence establishment wanted to protect, “particularly people with evidence that could be used against the US [during] negotiations”. She added: “It makes a lot of sense that [the US] would either want to kill those people or extract them before the Syrians could interrogate them.
“We are preserving people who have worked with us, people that are dealing with the financial aspects of our aid to Daesh, because that’s what’s going to be looked at in the autopsy of this operation. People are going to be saying: where did the money flow? Who knew about it? What was the American role? Americans will be asking that question too, not just the world.”
CIA black ops programs don’t require day-to-day approval from the president. Kwiatkowski said that the media was busy misleading Americans about ISIS, and voters do not know “that the Americans are rescuing Daesh”. She also alluded to operations aimed at the Daesh convoy that’s currently stranded on the Syrian-Iraqi border.
The US-led coalition quickly agreed to a request by Russian forces in the region to stop surveillance on an ISIS convoy, streamlining efforts to defeat extremists, according to British newspaper the Guardian.
A convoy of an estimated 17 buses containing ISIS militants and their families has dwindled to 11, after six vehicles abruptly made a U-turn as Syrian army troops were closing in.
Russian experts are meanwhile calling on President Trump to comment. Speaking to Sputnik, Russian defense analyst Igor Korotchenko noted that Trump “must comment on this and declare clearly: either the evacuation of the Daesh field commanders was authorized by him personally and he assumes all political responsibility for this step, or the [US] special services acted without his approval.”
On Tuesday, the Syrian army finally broke the siege of the city, delivering food and ammunition by air, while helicopters from the city of Qamishli had been evacuating the wounded and delivering essential supplies to the city’s population.
The Syrian Army victory over the city, is being viewed the most important achievement of the 6-year war.
