Americans 'running like rats' as Iraq warns of new security threat

Akcakale, Turkey: Conflict in Syria could lead to dangerous militants entering Iraq and eroding its fragile security, Iraq's deputy prime minister and finance minister Fuad Hussein has warned. 

Hussein said militant cells remained in some parts of Iraq even after the Islamic State militant group had been deprived of its ability to hold territory. The government now fears instability in central and eastern Syria could lead to militant fighters going free.

"Once again with this action I am afraid that we are going to give rebirth to ISIS," he told reporters during a visit to Washington.

Hussein said that after the Iraqi military, with help from Shiite militias and international forces, largely defeated the Islamic State in 2017, Iraqis had begun to think that a long period of successive conflicts was behind them.

A Syrian family shares a meal at the Bardarash Refugee Camp in Iraqi Kurdistan. Iraq's deputy PM says the flood of Syrian refugees could cause a big problem for the country. Credit: Kate Geraghty

"But once again we're facing threat of war," he said.

The government in Baghdad remained in discussions with Western countries about whether Iraq could take custody of thousands of suspected militants now in Syrian Kurdish-controlled prisons in Syria, he added.

Hussein said that Iraqi Kurdistan had already absorbed 250,000 Syrian refugees since that country's conflict erupted in 2011 and that thousands more fleeing the fighting in northern Syria were now arriving in the region.

"Imagine if we will receive 100,000 or 150,000 more? That will be a big problem," he said.

His comments came after US military vehicles withdrawing from Syria were pelted with potatoes and stones as they drove through Kurdish territory.

Defence Secretary Mark Esper said US troops would stay in eastern Syria to protect Kurdish-held oil fields for at least the coming weeks and he was discussing options to keep them there.

A video by the Kurdish news agency showed a convoy of armoured vehicles driving through the north-eastern city of Qamishli. People in the street hurled potatoes at the vehicles, shouting, "No America," and "America liar," in English.

"Like rats, America is running away," one man shouted in Arabic. Another shouted obscenities and talked of babies in Kurdish-held areas who have died in the Turkish offensive.

The scene encapsulated the Kurds' feelings of betrayal and added a new indignity to an American withdrawal that has been rushed and saw several close brushes with Turkish-backed forces. The Kurds were stunned when President Donald Trump two weeks ago abruptly decided to pull US troops out of border areas, abandoning their allied Kurdish-backed fighters ahead of Turkey's invasion. After the assault began on October 9, Trump ordered a general withdrawal from Syria.

At another location, near the town of Tal Tamr, a group of protesters raised banners to departing US troops late on Sunday, according to an Associated Press video.

One man blocked the way of a US van with a poster reading: "Thanks for US people, but Trump betrayed us."

The Kurdish-led force was a key ally of the US in the long and bloody fight that eventually brought down the Islamic State group's rule over north-east and eastern Syria. Abandoned by US forces, the Kurds agreed to a cease-fire deal brokered by Washington that requires them to leave a section of the border, handing it over to Turkish-backed forces.

Esper said he is discussing an option that would keep a small residual US military force to secure oil fields located in eastern Syria and continue the fight against Islamic State militants.

Speaking during a visit to Kabul, he said he has not made a final decision on that option and has not yet presented it to Trump. He underscored the importance of protecting the oil fields from IS to ensure the militants don't profit from them.

He said American troops who are working with Kurdish-led forces to guard the oil fields are still in place. The withdrawal could take weeks, he said, and troops around the town of Kobani on the border with Turkey are the first leaving.

Residents angry over the US withdrawal from Syria hurl potatoes at American military vehicles.Credit: ANHA via AP

As part of the cease-fire deal, Kurdish forces on Sunday pulled back from the border town of Ras al-Ayn, paving the way for Turkish troops' deployment in the area. Under the deal, the Kurds are to withdraw from a stretch of territory 120 kilometres along the border and 30 kilometres deep. Qamishli is east of that area.

A senior Kurdish official, Redur Khalil, said on Monday his forces are complying with the agreement and are preparing to complete the withdrawal. He called for an international mechanism to protect Kurdish civilians who want to stay in their towns after Kurdish-led fighters leave.

Most Kurdish civilians have fled Ras al-Ayn, fearing killings or repression by Turkish-backed forces, and any still in the territory that the Kurdish fighters are leaving are likely to do the same.

More than 176,000 people have been driven from their homes in the violence. About 70,000 of those are children, the international aid group Save the Children said on Monday. It said thousands are taking refuge in schools and abandoned buildings without electricity or in open fields in Kurdish-run areas around north-east Syria.

"Thousands of children and their families have once again had to leave everything they own to flee conflict and take shelter in unhygienic conditions without the basic necessities," said Sonia Khush, Save the Children's Syria Response Director.

Khalil said Turkey continues to violate the cease-fire, accusing its troops of shelling a village at dawn and seeking to carry out military operations. He criticised the US as guarantor of the cease-fire deal, saying it has not forced Turkey to adhere to it.

"The American guarantor remains weak in its position in deterring the Turkish violations," he said.

On Monday, Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, accused the Kurdish-led forces of 30 live fire violations of the four-day-old truce, including an attack that killed one Turkish soldier. He said Turkey retaliated against these attacks.

Cavusoglu renewed warnings that his country will resume its military offensive in north-east Syria if Kurdish fighters don't vacate the region before the cease- fire is set to end on Tuesday evening.

"If they don't withdraw, our operation will re-start," Mevlut Cavusoglu said speaking in Istanbul. He added, however, that Kurdish fighters were complying with the deal and withdrawing.

Turkey says it wants to return Syrian refugees to the areas evacuated. A crucial meeting between Turkish and Russian leaders is expected to further address arrangements along the Syria-Turkish border.

AP, The Washington Post