MSDFor the first time in nearly five years, the city of Tal Abyad in the northern countryside of Raqqa today, Thursday, March 26,2020, witnessed a meeting that included a number of former leaders of ISIS.
The meeting site was the house of Ismail Al-Aidu, in Iskan neighborhood of Tal Abyad.
Jisr learned from a local source that the “secret” meeting was held in Iskan neighborhood at the home of Ismail al-Aidu, and according to the source, the meeting included a number of leaders who had previously played important roles in the expansion of the organization in the province of Raqqa and throughout north- east Syria in general, including; the journalist Khaled Al-Aqal who is one of the founders of “Al-Amaq” agency, and his cousin Fadel, brother of Fayez Al-Aqal, governor of Raqqa during the control of the organization, and the security man in Al-Tamasih ” crocodiles” brigade, Muhannad Al-Kajal. Who are they? And why did they meet?
Al-Khazen takes over hospitality
According to local activists who spoke to Jisr about the incident, and refused to reveal their names for security reasons, Ismail Al-Aidu belongs to Al-Jais tribe, and he descends from the village of Abu Kharaza in the west of Tal Abyad, and in addition to his position as an arms official in the western sector when it was known as the state of Raqqa during the control of the organization, he ran a money exchange store in Tal Abyad which was considered at the time the financial channel of the organization and its elements, in addition to trading in tobacco and chemical fertilizers used in manufacturing of explosive devices for the benefit of the organization, and the source confirms that huge sums belonging to the latter and his elements, are still in the possession of Al-Aidu.
Before joining ISIS, Al- Aidu worked in arms trade, and he joined a local battalion known as “Sawaq al-Rahman”, with his joining to the organization, Al- Aidu fought many battles against the Free Syrian Army, in which many of the latter’s elements descended from his city of Tal Abyad, were killed, and he graduated in positions with successes that he was accomplishing in the tasks assigned to him by the security office of the organization.
Following the arrival of the forces of the “Euphrates Borkan(volcano) Operations Room”, which is composed of the “Brigade of the Revolutionaries of Raqqa” and “People Protection Units”, supported by the international coalition to fight ISIS in Tal Abyad; Al- Aido, like other elements of the organization, fled to Raqqa and from there to Turkey, there he was arrested byTurkish intelligence upon his arrival, where he remained in prison for a few months before being released in exchange for missions he carried out in favor of the latter.
Among the first tasks that Al-Aidu planned and carried out – according to the activists – was the assassination of Kurdish politician Omar Alloush, after which a number of his family members were arrested by SDF, and they are still in its intelligence prisons, but after that AL- Aidu became one of the most important arms of Turkish intelligence in the area in which he resumed his activity after “Spring of Peace” operation,
Aqal cousins
“Abu Al-Walid Al-Raqawi”, the nom de guerre of Khaled Al-Aqal, is from the village of Quneitra, near the town of Selouk, and has worked since the beginning of the revolution with the “Sawaq Al-Rahman” battalion that he founded alongside a number of his cousins who had previously participated in an attack that targeted in 2008 Zaidi police station in Northern Raqqa countryside; as a result, Assad regime arrested them.
On the background of the family’s previous sympathy for the revolution with al-Qaeda, Al-Aqal joined with a number of members of his battalion to the Syrian branch of the organization represented by “Jabhat al-Nusra”, before he sided with ISIS to become the first media outlet in the western sector of the state of Raqqa, and contributes to establishment of the most famous organization agency “Amaq ”, and the source notes that 36 members of the Al-Aqal family died while fighting in the ranks of the organization.
Al-Aqal witnessed, according to the source, mass killings and forced displacement that affected the region’s Christians (Armenians) and Kurds, as his name appears on the top of the list of those accused of throwing Free Syrian Army fighters, then fighters of People Protection units in the hole near the town of Selouk known as “Houta” .
While working for Amaq agency, at the beginning of 2014, Al-Aqal visited Turkey, and he toured, according to activists, at least in the city of Gaziantep, and entered the office of one of the media establishments there, he aroused the anger and terror of its workers. After the control of the “Euphrates Volcano” forces on Tal Abyad, he left for Turkey.
Besides Khaled, the source confirmed the presence of Fadel Al-Aqal, who is the brother of Fayez Al-Aqal, the governor of Raqqa during the control of the organization, and the two, along with their predecessors, were the most dangerous leaders of the organization in the region.
Muhannad Al-Kajal ..Al- Tamasih ” crocodiles “were there too
The name of the former combatant in the “Brigade of Al -Haq(Truth)”, the security figure later in the “Al-Tamasih Brigade”, known for its crimes throughout the province of Raqqa, is related to the killing of a civilian activist Dr. Fawaz Al-Ali, and our source confirms that Al-Kajel himself supervised the kidnapping and killing of Al-Ali, who was previously arrested by the regime for a year in the beginning of the revolution, on the background of his activity.
Al-Kajal and the organization’s leaders left the city of Tal Abyad, after falling into the hands of the “Euphrates Volcano” forces, to Turkey before returning today to attend the meeting.
Why did they meet?
After the expulsion of SDF in the wake of the “ Peace Spring” operation, the Levant Front, in the ranks of the National Army, most of whose fighters are from the Aleppo countryside, controlled the city of Tal Abyad in addition to the border crossing, while other factions, including fighters from Deir Ezzor Governorate, such as the Free and Eastern Army, took control of the city’s surrounding, with the latter stationed specifically in the village of Quneitra, the stronghold of the Al-Aqal community, the gatherers seize the opportunity, calling for formation of a local faction of the northern Raqqa countryside.
But our source affirms that what is being organized is being performed by former leaders of the remaining fighters of the organization in the region, and they were headed first if not exclusively under the eyes of Turkey and the factions loyal to it.
The source pointed out that elements in Al-Shamiya formation called “Ahrar al-Raqqa”, which includes a number of the city’s people and its countryside, intercepted the road of people to meet and tried to arrest them on background of past hostilities dating back to the period of the organization’s control of the area; which forced the Turkish intelligence to instruct members of National Army to secure the escort and keep pace of the convoy to the meeting place.The news is contradictory about the faction that secured the meeting, some of them said that it was a group from the Levant Front, called the Second Central, led by a person called Abu Ali Saqour, who acted without the knowledge of his leadership, while others said that who protected the meeting is army Eastern Army and “Twenty Squad”.
In conclusion, the source confirmed that a convoy of National Army took the former leaders of “Islamic State-ISIS”, to the house of Ismail Al-Aidu in Iskan neighborhood in the city of Tal Abyad in light of what he said was a state of extreme tension and intense security by the elements of National Army and the police affiliated to it .
