– Pentagon chief says more US troops possible in Syria; US to launch refugee screening centers
– Iran plans to attend next round of Syria talks, demands identifying terrorist groups
– ISIS frees thirty-seven kidnapped Syrian Christians
– France hits ISIS oil facility in Deir Ezzor; Russian air strikes kill eleven civilians in Idlib
– Syrian children in Turkey not in school
– Anti-terror operations escalate in Turkey; Turkish Armed Forces release operation details
Pentagon chief says more US troops possible in Syria; US to launch refugee screening centers
More US troops could “absolutely” be deployed to Syria if Washington identifies more “capable local forces” as partners in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL), Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said. Carter’s statement came about a week after the White House announced the deployment of “fewer than fifty” special operations personnel in the north of Syria. The Obama administration is also moving to increase the number of Syrian refugees who might be admitted into the United States and accelerate the process by opening new screening outposts in Iraq and Lebanon, administration officials said. The US State Department confirmed the plans to open a refugee settlement processing center in Erbil, Iraq, before the end of 2015, and to resume refugee processing in Lebanon in early 2016, said spokeswoman Danna Van Brandt. Brandt said the new centers are designed to “increase the channels” the United States has for reaching Syrian refugees. [Reuters, AFP, 11/8/2015]
Iran plans to attend next round of Syria talks, demands identifying terrorist groups
Iran will attend the next round of Syria peace talks, a top advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying on Saturday, a week after Tehran threatened to withdraw from the process. “Iran will be actively present in [Syria peace] talks, while announcing its standards and preserving its red lines,” Khamenei’s top foreign policy advisor Ali Akbar Velayati said. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday, “There are two important items on the agenda for the next meeting of Vienna … First is determining which groups are terrorists, which is clear to us. And then agreeing on how to proceed.” Diplomats said the next round of international talks will likely begin later this week. [Reuters, AFP, 11/9/2015]
ISIS frees thirty-seven kidnapped Syrian Christians
ISIS on Saturday released thirty-seven Syrian Christians, most of them women, the Assyrian Monitor for Human Right said. They arrived on Saturday morning to the town of Tal Tamr in the Khabur region of Hasaka province in northeastern Syria. The releases were confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which said most of those freed came from other towns elsewhere in the Khabur region. The former hostages were among a group of 220 Assyrians captured by ISIS when they overran parts of the Khabur region in February. The Assyrian Monitor said the releases were the result of negotiations carried out by the church, but other reports suggest that ISIS was paid to free the hostages. [AFP, 11/7/2015]
France hits ISIS oil facility in Deir Ezzor; Russian air strikes kill eleven civilians in Idlib
The French Army on Sunday bombed an oil supply center held by ISIS in eastern Syria, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced Monday. “We intervened in Syria … yesterday evening with a strike on an oil supply center near Deir Ezzor on the border between Iraq and Syria,” Le Drian said. In Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, SOHR reports that apparent Russian air strikes killed at least eleven civilians on Sunday in two towns. [Al Arabiya, 11/9/2015]
Syrian children in Turkey not in school
More than 400,000 Syrian refugee children in Turkey are not able to attend school despite a Turkish government move that allowed them access to the Turkish schooling system, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released Monday. HRW cited a language barrier, integration issues, and financial difficulties as reasons for the children’s poor access to education in Turkey. It called on the international community to provide “urgent financial and technical support” for initiatives that would expand the children’s access to education. “Failing to provide Syrian children with education puts an entire generation at risk,” said Stephanie Gee of the HRW’s refugee rights program. “With no real hope for a better future, desperate Syrian refugees may end up putting their lives on the line to return to Syria or take dangerous journeys to Europe.” [AP, 11/9/2015]
Anti-terror operations escalate in Turkey; Turkish Armed Forces release operation details
Turkish security forces and police have ramped up anti-terror operations against ISIS and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) after parliamentary elections on November 1 and in the lead up to next week’s G20 Summit in Antalya. In the offensive against ISIS, Turkish security forces detained twelve suspected ISIS members in the southeastern province of Gaziantep on Sunday. Two ISIS suspects were detained Saturday in the southern province of Kilis as they tried to cross into Turkey on the Syrian border. Turkish police have also detained twenty suspects in an operation against ISIS in Turkey’s southern Antalya province. Adana Police Department Counter Terrorism Unit officers detained another thirty-eight foreign nationals on Monday, after gathering intelligence that they had come to Adana with their families in a bid to join ISIS. Simultaneous operations against the PKK in Turkey’s southeastern Hakkari, Sirnak, and Diyarbakir provinces on Saturday resulted in at least thirteen PKK militants killed. The Turkish Armed Forces also released details over the weekend of a forty-day air and land operation against PKK mountain bases in Hakkari. During the operation (September 27 – November 5), the Turkish Armed Forces killed 119 PKK militants and seized several improvised explosive devices and the components used to make them. Six soldiers were reportedly killed during clashes. [Anadolu Agency, Hurriyet, 11/9/2015]
UN prepares for refugee exodus when Iraqi forces attack Mosul
The United Nations is expecting huge numbers of civilians to flee when Iraqi forces mount an offensive to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS. The much anticipated counter-offensive has been repeatedly postponed due to a lack of preparation and distraction by battles elsewhere. UNHCR representative in Iraq Bruno Geddo said the agency was preparing to help people fleeing Mosul identifying potential sites for new camps, although there will not be enough room for all displaced persons. A large part of Mosul’s population of more than 1 million remained in the city after it was overrun by ISIS in June 2014. “This time the humanitarian community is acutely aware that there will be no justification if we are caught unprepared again,” Geddo said. [NYT, 11/9/2015]