US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday told Turkiye it was “imperative” to work against a resurgence of the militant Islamic State (IS) group in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
His remarks came after meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara on the second leg of his Syria crisis tour following the fall of Assad’s government.
“Our country worked very hard and gave a lot over many years to ensure the elimination of the territorial caliphate of ISIS (IS), to ensure that that threat doesn’t rear its head again,” Blinken said at a joint press conference.
“And it’s imperative that we keep at those efforts.”
In response, Fidan told him Turkiye was committed to ensuring stability in Syria “as soon as possible” and preventing fighters from gaining a foothold there.
“Our priorities include ensuring stability in Syria as soon as possible, preventing terrorism from gaining ground, and preventing ISIS and the PKK from dominating there,” he said, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has fought a decades-long insurgency against Turkiye.
Blinken also discussed the matter with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after he flew in on Thursday night, with the pair meeting for more than an hour inside Ankara airport, a US official said.
Erdogan assured him that Turkiye would never ease up in the fight against IS fighters in Syria, despite its operations against Kurdish fighters seen as key to containing the extremists.
“Turkiye will never allow any weakness to arise in the fight against ISIS,” Erdogan told him.
US grand jury charges former Syrian prison official with torture
Separately, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles charged a former Syrian government official who headed the Damascus Central Prison from 2005 to 2008 with torture, the US Justice Department said.
Samir Ousman Alsheikh, 72, headed the Adra prison, as it is colloquially known, during that period, allegedly ordering subordinates to inflict severe physical and mental pain and suffering on political and other prisoners, the department said.
He was sometimes personally involved in such incidents, the department added in its statement.
Reuters could not immediately contact Alsheikh to seek comment.
The torture aimed to deter opposition to the regime Assad, the department said, adding that Alsheikh later allegedly lied about his crimes to obtain a US “green card”, or residence permit.
Alsheikh, who allegedly held positions in the Syrian police and the state security apparatus, was associated with the ruling Syrian Ba’ath Party and was appointed governor of the province of Deir Ez-Zour by Assad in 2011.
A superseding indictment returned today alleged that Alsheikh immigrated to the United States in 2020 and applied for citizenship in 2023.
The indictment added three counts of torture and one count of conspiracy to commit torture to charges of visa fraud and attempted naturalisation fraud that figured in an initial indictment against Alsheikh in August.
In a separate US indictment unsealed on Monday, two former high-ranking Syrian intelligence officials under Assad were charged with war crimes.
These included conspiracy to mete out cruel and inhuman treatment to civilian detainees, including US citizens, during the Syrian civil war that began in 2011.
