by Andrés Perezalonso, Russia Insider:

For almost a year now the US has been ‘unable’ to defeat a small pocket of ISIS on the eastern Euphrates bank which conveniently helps to keep a key Syria-Iraq-Iran road closed

Speaking at the 15th annual Valdai forum in Sochi, in-between hilarious exchanges about the benefits of Western sanctions on the Russian cheese industry, President Putin made a number of strong statements directed at his ‘Western partners’. These included an announcement that Russia is gradually ‘de-dollarizing’ its economy for security reasons; a droll warning that, should the worst come to pass and nuclear war break out, at least Russians would go to heaven as martyrs whereas her enemies would drop dead without time to repent; and a reminder that Russia has surpassed its competitors, for the foreseeable future, in hypersonic missiles. Far less publicized was his revelation about a recent incident involving ISIS in the Deir ez-Zor region of eastern Syria:

“We now see what is happening on the left bank of the Euphrates River, our colleagues know that. This territory is under the protection of our American partners, they rely there on the Kurdish armed forces. But they obviously did not work it through, members of Daesh remained in several settlements,” Putin said at the annual Valdai Discussion Club meeting in Sochi.

The president further stressed that Daesh had recently started expanding its presence, taking 130 families hostage, which is nearly 700 people, including US and European nationals, in part of Syria controlled by US-backed forces.

“They [terrorists] put forward ultimatums and certain demands, and warned that if these ultimatums are not followed up to, they will be gunning down 10 people everyday. The day before yesterday they executed ten people,” Putin stressed.

“Our information shows that several citizens of the United States and [some] European countries were also taken hostage [by Daesh],” Putin added.

You can listen to Putin describe this issue as a disaster, about which Western governments are keeping quiet, in this video, starting from 4:46. The reason they do not wish to talk about it is, of course, that it is not only an embarrassment for US coalition forces, but that it highlights their transparent intention to prevent the stabilization and reconstruction of war-torn Syria.

What Happened

Major-General Vladimir Savchenko, from the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria, has provided details of the abduction. On Saturday 13 October, ISIS launched an assault on El Bahra refugee camp in Deir ez-Zor – which is controlled by the Kurdish militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – taking hundreds of people to the town of Hajin on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river, where ISIS inexplicably retains a 20km strip of land between that settlement and al-Susa. Savchenko pointed out that as a result of “inaction of the US-backed armed units… The US-led coalition and the Pentagon-controlled Kurdish forces continue to imitate [sic; simulate] the fight against Islamic State in the south of Deir ez-Zor province,” without making actual steps to eradicate the terrorists.

ISIS fighters attacked the refugee camp near Hajin last week, and kidnapped some 130 families – around 700 people – including U.S. and European nationals.

A Russian military-diplomatic source – presumably Savchenko himself, or someone close to him – explained that the SDF was trying to launch an offensive on ISIS with the support of the US coalition, but it failed due to multiple mistakes made by the US military coordinating the operation. Meanwhile, ISIS attacked the refugee camp. Adding to the mess, two US-led coalition F-15 jets bombed Kurdish forces ‘by mistake’, killing six, wounding 15 and allowing ISIS to gain ground. While this last incident appears to have taken place days after the kidnapping of the refugees, it is significant that it happened near the town of Hajin, where the hostages were taken. A Russian news outlet reported that a number of American soldiers and SDF militants were kidnapped by ISIS – were these the ones Putin was talking about? Alternatively, were American and European aid workers at the camp when it was attacked?

Are these example of extraordinary incompetence, the continuation of a malicious strategy to perpetuate the conflict in Syria, or some combination of both? If the US military has been thus far reluctant to finish off the ISIS pocket within its ‘sphere of influence’ on the Euphrates, now it has a convenient excuse not to do so due to ‘700 human shields’. The source spelled out the obvious: “The imitation of fight against terrorists in this region of Syria has already lasted more than six months and is used by Washington to justify its illegal presence in this country.”

US Air Force F-15 fighter jets fly in formation.

While Col. Sean Ryan, spokesman for the US-led Operation ‘Inherent Resolve’, acknowledged that the F-15 ‘friendly-fire’ event was under investigation, and Pentagon spokesman Commander Sean Robertson admitted to an attack on the camp near Deir ez-Zor, the latter also issued a carefully-worded denial (of sorts) regarding the hostage situation: “We have no information supporting the large number of hostages alleged by President Putin and we are skeptical of its accuracy. We are also unaware of any U.S. nationals located in that camp.” Notice that the point in question is “the large number of hostages” and whether any of them were American. Does that mean that there is indeed a hostage situation, just not with as many of 700 of them? Interestingly, the anti-Assad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), based on the UK (and run by a single man, Rami Abdulrahman, who claims to have contacts on the ground in Syria), declared that the hostage crisis was real – except that the number of people kidnapped was 250, including 90 women and children. Thus, the US military will not deny the situation unequivocally, and even those supposed to be on their side have at least partly confirmed the information.

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