Is the YPG releasing Daesh prisoners?

Last week the US transferred some of the most high-value Daesh terrorists out of YPG-controlled areas as Turkish operations were set to begin in northeastern Syria.

Hundreds of Daesh militants, however, continued to be held by the YPG, the Syrian branch of the PKK, which has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, EU and Turkey.

As the YPG terror group has become increasingly desperate to shore up its international support, it has tried to weaponise Daesh detainees by principally threatening their release.

US President Donald Trump used his Twitter account to suggest that the YPG, a former ally of the US in northeastern Syria, may be releasing Daesh fighters to get the US involved in the Syrian quagmire once again.

“Kurds may be releasing some [Daesh fighters] to get us involved. Easily recaptured by Turkey or European Nations from where many came, but they should move quickly,” said Trump on Twitter.

The YPG has threatened that Turkish actions against the terror group would result in Daesh being empowered. Several authoritarian regimes have used this narrative in the past in the region.

The Assad regime in the past threatened Western powers that if they did not support him, they would ultimately need to deal with extremists forces that later turned into Daesh.

In the early days of the Syrian revolution, and with international support for the Assad regime ebbing, the Syrian regime leader embarked on a policy of releasing battle-hardened militants, many captured from the Iraq war.

The YPG, now seemingly releasing Daesh militants, is operating on a very cold logic that was previously perfected by the Assad regime. This time, however, the YPG is aiming to tarnish the Turkish incursion into the region.

Western media, in particular, has been sympathetic to the YPG narrative and has gone some way to pushing the group’s line.

Speaking on Fox News recently, Gulnur Aybet, Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic of Turkey, said: “#ISIS [Daesh] were ‘allowed to grow’ under the watch of the #YPG, who allowed thousands of them to escape from #Raqqa. We didn't partake in Raqqa. Unfortunately, the Americans chose to do it with a #terrorist group. I think the American public has a right  to know that, don’t you think so?”

Aybet is referring to a 2017 deal between the YPG and Daesh in which several thousand Daesh militants were allowed to leave the stronghold of Raqqa and escape to other areas.

More recently, footage by the Turkish military when it liberated Tal Abyad - showed the discovery that YPG had opened the prison and allowed Daesh militants to leave, endangering the security of people in Syria and that of the international community.

While much of the Western press continues to portray the YPG as the safeguard against Daesh, the reality on the ground is that the militant group is battling for survival.

The YPG’s rapprochement with the Assad regime, which has slaughtered hundreds of thousands of its people and incubated Daesh militants, is indicative of an organisation that has strayed from its proclaimed “democratic values” to stay in power, even if it means getting into bed with Syrian regime leader Bashar al Assad.