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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Senior Kurdish official, key to US policy in Syria, killed |
| 2018-03-17 |
| [IsraelTimes] Omar Alloush, found dead in his apartment, played an important role in forming the US-backed civil council for Raqqa A senior Kurdish official who played a key role with the United States in implementing its post-Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... policy in northern Syria has been found dead in his apartment, Kurdish officials said Thursday. Omar Alloush’s death is a blow to the post-IS efforts in the region, as he played a key role in mediating between Arabs and Kurds and in shaping US policy in the area. The main Kurdish party in Syria said Thursday the death of Alloush is under investigation and officials suspect foul play. Alloush was found dead in his apartment in Tal Abyad, a majority Arab town in northern Syria where he helped set up a joint Arab-Kurd administrative council after it was liberated from IS in 2015. Alloush moved on to play a key role in forming the US-backed civil council for Raqqa, also a majority Arab town which was also the de-facto capital of IS. Raqqa was cleared of the group last year after months of fighting. Alloush and other Arab tribal leaders were instrumental in negotiating a deal with the remnants of IS to evacuate the city after they were squeezed into a small sliver of land. The October evacuation deal allowed a number of IS fighters to leave Raqqa in a convoy of vehicles, sparking criticism that the fighters were let off the hook. The US-led coalition said it was not involved in the negotiations, which aimed to save lives. Another Arab mediator who played a key role in an evacuation deal of IS from Tabqa, a town near Raqqa, was also found killed last month in Syria. Top Kurdish official Fawza Yusef said Alloush’s killing is a blow to joint Arab-Kurdish action and social peace following the defeat of IS. "Omar Alloush had a key role in forming the Raqqa city council and in developing the concept of coexistence in Tal Abyad, Raqqa and Tabqa," she said, naming also another major town west of Raqqa that was recaptured from IS. Those who killed him "want to incite sedition between ethnic groups and ignite internal infighting," she said. Yusef accused ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... of being behind the liquidation of Alloush, saying he received threats before. Turkey views the dominant Kurdish militia, which is the US partner in the fight against IS in Syria, as a terrorist group. Nicholas Heras, a Middle East Security Fellow at the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, said Alloush’s suspected killing was a "terrible blow" to the US efforts to stabilize Raqqa and therefore US strategy in Syria. The Kurdish-led forces have "a big bulls eye on its back and the road ahead will not be easy." |
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