The Islamic State and Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad have been colluding, according to leaked documents.
An
investigation suggests there was co-operation between the regime and
the terror group over the city of Palmyra, which was held by ISIS for
nearly a year before it was retaken by Syrian forces in March.
They also appear to show ISIS and the Syrian government made a deal to trade oil for fertiliser
Leaked documents: One letter, penned before the ancient city of Palmyra
was recaptured, read: 'Withdraw all heavy artillery and anti-aircraft
machine guns from in and around Palmyra to Raqqa province'
The
information was revealed in letters - copies of documents sent from ISIS
headquarters - which were among 22,000 files obtained by Sky news
One
letter, penned before the ancient city of Palmyra was recaptured, read:
'Withdraw all heavy artillery and anti-aircraft machine guns from in
and around Palmyra to Raqqa province.'
An
ISIS defector confirmed to Sky News reporter Stuart Ramsay that the
terror group was coordinating the movement of its fighters in
coordination with the Syrian army and the Russian airforce.
Another
asks for a driver to be able to travel through the terror group's
checkpoints 'until he reaches the border with the Syrian regime to
exchange oil for fertiliser'.
The letters also show there were arrangements for ISIS to evacuate areas before Assad's forces attacked.
And
they reveal ISIS has been training foreign fighters to attack targets
in the West for longer than was originally thought - for years.
Professor
Anthony Glees, director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence
Studies at the the University of Buckingham, believes such a deal could
be a game-changer.
'Deals
between two mortal enemies invariably mean one side is winning - but not
yet - and the other is losing but isn't defeated and is hoping to
stabilise its position,' he said.
'Certainly
ISIS has no genuine interest in safeguarding our common cultural
heritage. It's about hanging on to weapons and territory. In this case
it can only mean Assad and Putin think they are winning and ISIS knows
it is losing. But not yet.
'For
us in Europe any deal between these two is very bad news. First because
both Assad and ISIS terrorise the people in Syria and that will lead to
more suffering and more refugees.
'Second it could strengthen rather than weaken ISIS. We in Europe are far less safe if this story is true.
'We in the West are slowly squeezing IS. We should do all we can to prevent them from wriggling loose.'dailystyle entertainment has been unable to verify the authenticity of the documents obtained by Sky News.
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