ISIS Prisoners In Syria All Want To Go To Turkey

“Turkey let all of these jihadis cross its border into Syria, and now, Turkey is giving [ISIS] the chance to start again.” Read @lindseysnell’s report from an ISIS prison and the al-Hol camp in Northeast Syria: https://t.co/U855qlqXTc pic.twitter.com/RBGJwlxayW

— The Investigative Journal (@TIJournalism) November 18, 2019

Lindsey Snell, The Investigative Journal: “They All Want to go to Turkey:” Northeast Syria’s ISIS Prisoner Crisis

Since Turkey launched Operation “Peace Spring,” in October, assaulting several cities in Northeastern Syria with airstrikes and a ground offensive led by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), hundreds of civilians have been killed, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. Turkey and their Syrian proxies created a supply and transportation crisis by cutting several points along the M4 highway, which runs parallel to the Turkish-Syrian border and links many key border cities in Northeastern Syria.

Read more ....

Update: ISIS Secrets Spilled In Rare On-Camera Interviews: "We Just Walked Into Syria" (Zero Hedge)

WNU Editor: With allies like Turkey, who needs enemies?

Turkey Has Begun Deporting Foreign Members Of ISIS To Their Home Counries

Daily Mail: Turkey begins expelling foreign ISIS fighters, with an American and 20 Europeans the first to be sent to their home countries

* A US jihadist was deported with fighters from Germany and Denmark to follow
* French and Irish citizens are also being deported, Turkey's interior ministry said
* Ankara has been critical of Western nations for refusing to take back jihadists

Turkey has begun sending foreign ISIS fighters back to their home countries, Ankara announced today.

An American 'terrorist fighter' has already been expelled and two more jihadists from Germany and Denmark are set to be deported later today.

More than 20 Europeans are being processed with another seven Germans due for deportation on Thursday.

The Europeans also include 11 French citizens and two Irish, interior ministry spokesman Ismail Catakli told state media.

Read more ....

More News On Turkey Beginning To Deport Foreign Members Of ISIS

Turkey starts returning IS fighters; deports US national -- AP
Turkey starts repatriating Islamic State detainees -- Reuters
Turkey says it has begun deporting foreign members of Isis -- The Guardian
Turkey starts repatriating IS jihadis -- DW
Turkey begins repatriating Western Islamic State fighters -- NBC
Turkey begins deporting IS fighters to native nations -- UPI

The War Against The Islamic State Continues As The Impact Of The Failed Coup In Turkey Recedes

Roy Gutman, Daily Beast: Turkey’s Coup Won’t Stop ISIS War

With massive popular support — and mass arrests — Turkey’s president emerges stronger than ever. Relations with Washington are tense, but the ISIS war looks set to go on.

ISTANBUL—Buoyed by a wave of popular support after suppressing a calamitous coup attempt, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has begun a major purge of the military and the judiciary.
He’s also picked a fight with the U.S. over his onetime ally and now political nemesis, Fethullah Gülen, who’s living in Pennsylvania.

Erdogan portrays Gülen, who denied any part in the coup, as something akin to evil incarnate, and the Erdogan government has been seeking Gülen’s extradition for more than two years.

Read more ....

Update #1: Turkish Air Base Used by Coalition Fighting ISIS is Back in Operation (ABC News)
Update #2: ISIS Fight Resumes as Turkey Reopens Air Base to US (Newsweek)

WNU Editor: With the memories of the coup now receding, will Turkish President Erdogan demand concessions from the U.S. and other allies for the use of its territory in the war against the Islamic State? At this point in time anything is possible from him.

Incirlik Base In Turkey Has Re-Opened. Air Strikes Against The Islamic State Have Resumed

US airforce F-16 warplanes lining to take off from the Incirlik Airbase in Turkey. Photo: AFP.

Military Times: Turkey re-opens airspace for U.S. base, strikes against ISIS resume

Turkey has re-opened airspace for Incirlik Air Base, allowing the U.S. to resume airstrikes against the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

An MQ-1 Predator was the first aircraft to take off from Incirlik after the airspace was reopened, followed by a KC-135 tanker, said Lt. Col. Christopher Karns, a spokesman for U.S. Air Forces Central Command.

The U.S. has both manned and unmanned aircraft at Incirlik, which is about 100 miles from the border with Syria, but operations had been halted there after Saturday’s attempted coup by elements of the Turkish military.

Read more ....

Update: Turkey allows US to resume Syria and Iraq airstrikes from Incirlik airbase (The Guardian)

WNU Editor: The Turkish government wants to show everyone that the situation is coming back to normal, and to quell any concerns like this one .... France says question marks over Turkey's role in fight with Islamic State (Reuters)

After This Week's Istanbul Airport Bombing, Will Turkey Now Wage War Against The Islamic State?

Roy Gutman & Nancy Youssef, Daily Beast: Istanbul Ataturk Airport Attack: Turkey Could Knock Out ISIS, but Will It?

It’s got a huge army on ISIS’s doorstep—and all the motivation in the world to use it. Will Turkey finally go on the offensive this time?

Cleaning crews were still clearing the rubble and broken glass, and barriers proclaiming a “maintenance zone” blocked what had always been the main arrivals area, but just a half day after suicide bombers staged a major terror attack at Istanbul’s main airport, the crowds had returned and most flights were operating.

It wasn’t quite business as usual at Ataturk airport, one of Europe’s busiest, but the recovery seemed remarkable, and there was little sign of enhanced security. Some passengers no doubt stayed home, but there were long lines at airline check-ins, and even longer lines at ticket offices to rebook their flights.

Forty-two people were killed, 12 of them foreigners and the rest Turks, and 239 wounded, according to the Turkish government. Among the wounded were an American and a Canadian, but officials did not give their names. Nor did the government identify the three suicide bombers, who arrived by taxi Tuesday evening toting explosive vests and submachine guns.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The author's of the above post do give a convincing argument on why Turkey will not order its military to rout ISIS rebels in Syria. The reasons being .... no popular support within Turkey for such a war, the war against the Kurds is more important in Erdogan's eyes than the Islamic State, and Turkish fears that retaliation from Syria and its Russian/Iranian allies will occur if Turkish forces enter Syria while receiving no support from the U.S. or NATO.

Turkey Boasts That It Has Killed 200 Islamic State Militants

Reuters: Turkish forces kill nearly 200 ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for Istanbul bombing

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish land forces have fired nearly 500 times on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq, killing almost 200 militants in response to a suicide bombing in Istanbul which killed 10 German tourists, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday.

Turkey will also carry out air strikes against the radical Sunni group if necessary and will maintain its "determined stance" until Islamic State fighters leave its border areas, Davutoglu told a conference of Turkish ambassadors in Ankara.

WNU Editor: I am sceptical of these Turkish numbers (200 ISIS militants killed). They do not have anyone on the ground to verify these numbers, and ISIS does not exactly broadcast these numbers.

More News On Turkey's War Against ISIS And The Kurds

Turkey: Nearly 200 ISIS militants killed in retaliation for Istanbul bombing -- FOX News/AP
Turkey 'kills 200 ISIS fighters' in reprisal artillery attacks -- Arutz Sheva
Turkey's REVENGE: Hundreds of ISIS jihadis obliterated in huge land assault -- Express
Turkey attacks Isis targets in Iraq, Syria over Istanbul bombing; 200 militants killed -- IBTimes
Turkey shelled ISIS targets in Iraq, Syria after Istanbul attack: PM -- AFP
Turkey hits ISIS targets after Istanbul bombing -- Al Arabiya
Turkey Begins ISIS Crackdown After Istanbul Bomb Attack -- Newsweek
Turkey sweeps up ISIS suspects after Istanbul bombing -- AP
Turkey keeps security focus on Kurds despite threat from Isis -- Financial Times
Deadly blast devastates Turkish police HQ in Kurdish region, string of attacks reported -- RT
Truck bomb attack by Kurdish militants kills six in southeast Turkey -- Channel News Agency
Turkey Is Being Torn Apart By ISIS Bombings And Kurdish Clashes -- Huffington Post
ISIS’ Operational Capacities In Turkey Strengthened By Laissez-Faire Approach Of President Erdogan's Government -- Alessandria Masi, IBTimes

Are Islamic State Fighters Being Trained In Turkey?

Photo: Fighter from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). © SPUTNIK/ HIKMET DURGUN

Sputnik: Captured Daesh Fighter Reveals Details of Turkey’s Ties With Terror Group

Mahmut Ghazi Tatar, a captured member of the Daesh terrorist organization, spoke to Sputnik Turkey, revealing details about being in the ranks of Daesh and Turkey’s ties with the terror group.

A Sputnik Türkiye correspondent managed to record an interview with a member of Daesh (Islamic State) who was captured by Kurdish troops in Syria. The 24-year-old Mahmut Ghazi Tatar who joined Daesh from the Turkish city of Adıyaman.

Mahmut Ghazi joined Daesh after being influenced by a friend who had joined the group earlier. He, together with 27 other Turks, was helped to cross the border into Syria where he joined the ranks of the militants.

WNU Editor: Zero Hedge has more on this story .... Confessions Of An ISIS Soldier: "The Training Took Place In Turkey". I do not know if this story is true .... but I do know that there is a brisk trade in oil products between Turkey and Islamic State controlled territories in Iraq and Syria, and if they are permitting this to flourish, one can only wonder what else is being permitted.

Turkey Begins Building A Wall Along The Border With Syria

On the same day that Turkey begins the construction of a 500-mile concrete wall along its border with Syria, Hungary announced that it has completed the construction of fence along its border with Croatia

Daily Mail: Shutting the door after the horse has bolted! Turkey begins to build a wall along its border with Syria in a bid to halt jihadis crossing illegally to join ISIS

* Turkey begins construction on 500-mile concrete wall along Syrian border
* It hopes to put a stop to the tide of jihadi fighters flooding in from Syria
* Government announced the plans in July after suicide attack left 32 dead
* Plans include barbed wire, a patrol road and 24-hour surveillance drones

Turkey has begun construction of a wall along its border with Syria to keep out jihadi fighters, but critics claim the move has come too late to have an effect.

The plans for the high-security border fence were announced in July, just three days after a suicide attack in the border town of Suruc left 32 people dead.

As well as a 500-miles concrete wall stretching the length of the border between the two countries, plans include barbed wire, a dedicated patrol road and a reinforced fence.

WNU editor: Too little .... too late.

Turkish Soldiers Stand Helpless As Syrian Refugees Are Forced At Gunpoint By Islamic State Fighters Only Yards Away From The Border

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Turkish troops and Isis terrorists stared at each other just a few yards apart across the barbed wire border as the civilians retreated

Daily Mail: Intercepted by ISIS fanatics just yards from safety: Moment hundreds of desperate Syrian refugees are frogmarched back to face death as Turkish troops look on helplessly from the border

* Heavily armed ISIS terrorists forced thousands of Syrian refugees to abandon their escape to freedom at gunpoint
* The men, women and children carried everything they could as they shuffled up to the Tal Abyad border crossing
* Turkish troops watched on as the ISIS terrorists forced the refugees to turn around and head back to Tal Abyad
* The Syrian-Kurdish YPG militia is advancing on the town having made major advances in ISIS controlled territory

ISIS terrorists forced thousands of Syrian refugees trying to escape the extremist-held territory to turn around despite being less than 100 yards from the safety of the Turkish border.

Turkish troops watched on helplessly as heavily-armed ISIS terrorists blocked the border crossing at Tal Abyad, where some 13,000 civilians have crossed over the past ten days.

The men, women and children were stopped at gunpoint almost within touching distance of the border town of Akcakale.

WNU Editor: The photos are gripping.