ISIS: Leaked documents, defectors reveal Palmyra, oil deals with Assad
THEY are the top secret files Islamic State don’t want the world to know about and risk humiliating and opening a government up to scrutiny.
(News.com)- Leaked documents obtained by British broadcaster Sky News reveal the terror group has been colluding with the Assad Government for years.
Among the biggest deals brokered between them was to hand the strategic city of Palmyra back to Syrian Government forces, according to the documents.
Earlier this year, IS was driven from of its most important strongholds in Palmyra, and hundreds of its fighters were killed after Syrian Government forces, backed by Russian air strikes, took back control of the ancient city in March
The loss of Palmyra led to predictions from anti-terror experts that it is the beginning of the end for the militant group. IS captured Palmyra in May and drove out government forces in days.
It later demolished some of the best-known monuments in the UNESCO world heritage site.
However if reports of cooperation between the two groups are confirmed, Palmyra could not only prove damaging for the Assad regime but also for Russia which has also been implicated in the controversy.
Sky News said it has not authenticated the most recent documents but believe they are genuine, based on previous leaks which have proven to be true.
The broadcaster obtained the documents through contacts it has established with a Free Syrian Army group which was originally from Islamic State’s headquarters in Raqqa for the past 18 months.