WarSclerotic

WASHINGTON (AP) — What to do with hundreds of foreign Islamic State fighters captured in Syria has become a critical and growing problem for the Trump administration as it prepares to pull troops out of the country.

A senior administration official said Tuesday that resolving the fate of these prisoners is a top priority as the government lays the groundwork with allies to comply with US President Donald Trump’s December 19 order to withdraw the 2,000 American troops from Syria, where they have been working alongside the US-backed Syrian Defense Forces to fight the Islamic State group since 2015.

But there are no easy answers. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said releasing the fighters, among them Europeans and some US citizens, would be “unacceptable” since they could simply rejoin the remnants of Islamic State fighters in Syria or elsewhere.

“This matters because SDF holds hundreds of IS fighters, including many European citizens, and they might go free if no solution is found,” said Bobby Chesney, a national security law expert at the University of Texas.

In this undated file photo, militants of the Islamic State group hold up their weapons and wave its flags on their vehicles in a convoy to Iraq, in Raqqa, Syria. (Militant website via AP, file)

European nations have been reluctant to take back citizens with ties to the Islamic State, not wanting the legal challenge of prosecuting them or the potential security risk if they are released.

And moving former fighters to the United States poses some of the same challenges the US has faced with men detained at the military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including whether it’s feasible to prosecute militants captured on the battlefields of northern Syria, according to experts.

“It’s one thing for the government to be very confident that an individual joined or tried to join ISIS. And sometimes it’s still another thing for the government to be able to mount confidently a criminal prosecution against that individual,” said Joshua Geltzer, a senior counterterrorism official under President Barack Obama.

US military guards walk within Camp Delta military-run prison, at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base, Cuba, June 27, 2006. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, file)

Meanwhile, the prisoner problem is only growing worse.

On Sunday, the Syrian Defense Forces announced the capture of five fighters, including two US citizens, one of whom has been identified as a former school teacher from Houston.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo just began a tour of eight Middle Eastern nations to discuss the withdrawal of the American troops. National security adviser John Bolton returned Tuesday from a meeting in Turkey, where he was seeking a guarantee of safety for the Kurdish fighters who have fought alongside US troops against the Islamic State.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to reporters on December 12, 2018, at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

There are fears that the US withdrawal will leave a door open for Turkey to assault the US-allied SDF fighters. Turkey views them as part of a terrorist group linked to an insurgency within its own borders. SDF commanders have warned that they will be unable to hold the 700 prisoners if Turkish forces invade Syria following a US withdrawal.

Administration officials so far do not have a plan for what to do with the prisoners, according to a separate US official, who said that few countries have been willing to accept any of their captured citizens. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to disclose the information publicly.

In a recent case of an American suspected of IS membership, US officials wrestled for more than a year, never charged him and then ultimately released him in Bahrain.

The problem has been further complicated by conflicting reports of Trump’s timeline for recalling the 2,000 US troops from Syria. When he made his surprise announcement of the withdrawal three weeks ago, Trump said he wanted to complete it quickly. His abrupt decision led to the resignations of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the global coalition to defeat IS.

US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis at a press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (unseen) at the latter’s office in Jerusalem on April 21, 2017. (Marc Israel Sellem/Pool/Flash90)

More recently, Trump and other administration officials have insisted they favor an orderly pullout. The senior administration official said the US will defeat remaining IS fighters on the way out to prevent a resurgence and that the U.S. will oppose any mistreatment of opposition forces, such as the SDF, that fought with the United States against IS.

“These questions are hard enough, if you know the timeline on which you’re making them — if you know what the US involvement will or won’t be over that timeline,” Geltzer said.

One of the foreign fighters recently captured is Warren Christopher Clark, a former substitute schoolteacher from Houston, Texas, who was first identified by George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. Researchers spent months investigating to confirm his identity through multiple sources. The program has identified more than 73 Americans, by their legal names, who are known to have joined jihadist groups.

“Clark is one of several dozen Americans to join the Islamic State out of the around 295 whom intelligence officials claim have traveled or attempted to travel to Syria and Iraq to join the terrorist group,” according to Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the Program on Extremism.

Clark was captured along with four other foreign jihadists — two from Pakistan, one from Ireland and a fourth man, Zaid Abed al-Hamid, who also is believed to be from the United States, although that has not been confirmed.

In a letter to IS that was obtained by the researchers, Clark submitted a resume noting that he had a bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston, had worked as a substitute teacher at the Fort Bend Independent School District in Sugar Land, Texas, and had done teaching stints in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

“Dear Director, I am looking to get a position teaching English to students in the Islamic State,” he wrote to the group in an accompanying cover letter. “Teaching has given me the opportunity to work with people from diverse cultural backgrounds and learning capabilities.”

An Egyptian security delegation is expected to arrive in Gaza in the coming days in an attempt to prevent a deterioration in the security situation along the border with Israel this weekend.

On Tuesday, the “Supreme National Authority for the March of Return and Breaking of the Siege,” the body officially behind the weekly border protests that the Hamas terror group has been encouraging saince last March, called on the Palestinian public to participate extensively in marches near the fence on Friday.

Over the past two weeks, after a months-long lull, there has been an increase in the number of demonstrations close to the fence, and last Friday also saw a rise in the number of violent incidents at those protests.

There have also been attempts by Palestinians to break through the fence at several locations, and an explosives-laden drone attached to balloons was launched toward Israel on Sunday, followed by a rocket attack.

A drone-shaped device from the Gaza Strip, borne by dozens of helium balloons, lands in a carrot field in southern Israel on January 6 ,2019. (Courtesy)

These moves have been interpreted by Israel as an attempt by Hamas to renew hostilities in light of its ongoing failure to change the reality of life in Gaza.

Monthly cash injections of $15 million from Qatar via Israel over the past two months have been perceived by some in Gaza as designed to ease the living conditions only of Hamas members rather than the public at large. The result has been an increase in criticism of the terror group among Gazans. This is exacerbated by the fact that electricity supply to the coastal enclave has again decreased to only five hours of power followed by 12-hour outages.

Palestinian sources in Gaza report that Hamas is planning to renew incendiary balloon attacks, along with the offensive tactics implemented in the weeks preceding the Qatari cash injection.

A week ago, Hamas officials met with the heads of the “kite unit,” as well as the leaders of the groups the so-called “tire unit” and a unit that carries out a variety of operations close to the border under the cover of darkness, such as demonstrations and attempts to damage the fence.

At that meeting, the unit heads received a new budget to prepare for the next round of violence.

Earlier this week, those units were expected to hold a press conference in Gaza at which they were to announce the relaunch of their activities. However, the event was canceled for reasons that were not immediately clear.

Hamas’s recent attempts to escalate the situation along the border have been linked to the ongoing failure of mediators, chief among them Egypt, to secure a reconciliation agreement between the Islamist terror group and the Palestinian Authority.

Earlier this week, Israel reportedly asked Qatar to delay its monthly delivery of $15 million to the Gaza Strip, after a rocket was fired from the coastal enclave at a southern Israeli city.

Palestinians wave their national flags while others burn tires near the fence of Gaza Strip border with Israel during clashes east of Gaza City, on November 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

The Qatari cash injection is part of an unofficial truce between Hamas and Israel that was supposed to see an end to months of violent protests along the Gaza-Israel border in exchange for an easing of Israel’s blockade of the coastal enclave.

Israel says it maintains the blockade to prevent weapons smuggling by Hamas and other terror groups sworn to Israel’s destruction.

Gaza protesters have launched hundreds of incendiary kites and balloons into Israel over the past nine months, sparking fires that have destroyed forests, burned crops, and killed livestock. Thousands of acres of land have been burned, causing millions of shekels in damages, according to Israeli officials. Some balloons have also carried improvised explosive devices.

Israel holds Hamas responsible for all attacks coming from Gaza, where the terror group, which seeks to destroy Israel, has held sway since seizing control in 2007 by ousting the West Bank-based PA.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday began a Middle East visit to talk to regional leaders about ramping up pressure on Iran.

Pompeo’s first stop is pro-West Jordan, followed by visits to Egypt and Gulf nations.

He told reporters he plans to talk to allies about “modalities by which we may continue to apply pressure” on Iran, branded by Washington a sponsor of terrorism.

Pompeo will likely face questions about last month’s surprise announcement that US troops would soon leave northeastern Syria, where they help battle remnants of the Islamic State terror group.

He didn’t give a timeline. Asked about confusion among allies, he said: “I’ve actually spoken to them all.”

Leaving on his trip to eight Arab capitals on Monday, Pompeo vowed that IS would not be allowed to regroup and told reporters he would show that “the United States is still committed to all the missions that we’ve signed up for with them over the past two years.”

The trip comes weeks after US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would quickly pull its 2,000 soldiers out of Syria, declaring that IS had been defeated.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) with the US National Security Adviser John Bolton, during a statement to the media follow their meeting in Jerusalem, on January 6, 2019. (Matty Stern/US Embassy, Jerusalem)

His advisers have since been walking back his timeline, with national security adviser John Bolton tellingPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday that the United States would verify that the group is truly defeated before withdrawing.

Highlighting that IS — also known as ISIS — emerged during the tenure of Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, Pompeo said the campaign to destroy the movement’s self-styled caliphate in war-battered Syria has been “enormously successful.”

“And I am confident that we will continue to ensure that the kind of rise that ISIS had under the Obama administration doesn’t occur again,” he said on his plane as he started his longest trip since taking over as top US diplomat last year.

Pompeo opens his trip in Jordan and will deliver an address on Middle East policy in Egypt, whose military ruler turned president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, has been a key partner of Trump.

Politico reported Monday that Pompeo may also visit Israel and Iraq, although last week the State Department said Jerusalem was not on his schedule.

The trip comes a week after the top American diplomat met with Netanyahu in Brazil and assured him that the planned pullout from Syria will not alter Washington’s commitment to countering Iranian aggression and maintaining Israel’s security.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Brasilia on January 1, 2019 (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

Israeli officials are concerned that the withdrawal of the 2,000 US military personnel from Syria will create a military vacuum enabling Iran to increase its foothold in the country, where it is supporting the Syrian regime in ending the country’s civil war. The US forces have been assisting local militias in defeating the Islamic State terror group in the country.

Another major focus of the tour will be sustaining a regional coalition to counter Iran, the main enemy of US allies Saudi Arabia and Israel.

“This is a coalition that understands that the largest threats — terrorism and the Islamic Republic of Iran — are things that we ought to work on jointly and we will be marshaling all of the resources, theirs and ours, to achieve them,” Pompeo said.

Last year, Trump pulled out of an international accord negotiated under Obama on ending Iran’s nuclear program and has instead reimposed biting sanctions.

Pompeo repeatedly has called Iran “the world’s largest state sponsor of terror,” pointing to its targeting of domestic rivals in Europe and support of militant movements such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

The Trump administration has cited Iran as a reason for maintaining a strong alliance with Saudi Arabia, which Pompeo also will visit, despite the killing and dismemberment of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate in October.

In this file photo taken on July 11, 2018, US President Donald Trump (L) speaks with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) as they arrive for a NATO summit at NATO headquarters in Brussels. (AFP Photo/Pool/Tatyana Zenkovich)

One of the rare US partners to support the US withdrawal from Syria has been Turkey, whose president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, spoke to Trump before the US leader’s December 19 decision.

Pompeo, in an interview before his departure, said that Erdogan has given assurances to Trump not to attack US-allied Kurdish forces who fought IS in Syria.

“President Erdogan made a commitment to President Trump as the two of them were discussing what this ought to look like — that the Turks would continue the counter-ISIS campaign after our departure and that the Turks would ensure that the folks that we’d fought with, that had assisted us in the counter-ISIS campaign, would be protected,” Pompeo told CNBC television.

Pompeo was elaborating on his remark last week that the United States was working to ensure that “the Turks don’t slaughter the Kurds” — a choice of words that angered Turkey, which said the top US diplomat had a “worrying lack of knowledge.”

The US-backed Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units form the backbone of the opposition Syrian Democratic Forces, but Erdogan considers them linked to the PKK, which has waged a bloody insurgency inside Turkey in the name of the Kurdish minority.

Bolton, meanwhile, is set to hold talks Tuesday in Turkey after meetings in Israel, which has privately worried that Trump’s withdrawal would empower Iran, which along with Russia offers military backing to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

WASHINGTON — Progressive advocacy groups have railed against an attempt by US senators to push through a bill that would protect states that penalize Israel boycotters, with one Jewish organization labeling it a “farce.”

Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Idaho Senator James Risch, both Republicans, introduced the first bill last week to be considered in the GOP-controlled Senate, which combined several bills that died in the last Congress.

One of those is the Combatting BDS Act, legislation that would grant federal protections to states that target the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, including states that ban contracts with individuals and entities who partake in Israel boycotts.

The bill has been fiercely criticized by progressive activists and civil libertarians who say these laws infringe on Americans’ constitutionally protected rights to engage in political boycotts, with liberal Mideast advocacy group J Street excoriating the measure.

“While millions of Americans suffer from the effects of the ongoing government shutdown, it’s outrageous that Senate Republican leaders are prioritizing legislation that tramples on the First Amendment and advances the interests of the Israeli settlement movement,” said the organization’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami. “Not a single Democrat should vote to enable this farce.”

The Rubio-Risch bill also included the Ileana Ros-Lehtinen United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act, named for the Republican Florida congresswoman who just retired, to codify into law $38 billion in defense assistance for Israel over the next year, based on a deal struck during the Obama years.

But the anti-BDS rider in the bill has been far more controversial. Over the weekend, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders tweeted that it was “absurd that the first bill during the shutdown is legislation which punishes Americans who exercise their constitutional right to engage in political activity.”

He linked to a story in The Interceptthat quoted a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which has been vociferously opposed to this and similar legislation.

“The legislation, like the unconstitutional state anti-boycott laws it condones, sends a message to Americans that they will be penalized if they dare to disagree with their government,” said ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Kathleen Ruane. “We therefore urge senators to vote no on the Combatting BDS Act next week.”

More than 25 states have passed measures that target BDS adherents. Those laws have already been challenged in the courts. In September, an Arizona judge ruled that the state’s law that required state contractors to certify that they are not participating in boycotts of Israel didn’t hold constitutional muster.

“A restriction of one’s ability to participate in collective calls to oppose Israel unquestionably burdens the protected expression of companies wishing to engage in such a boycott,” US District Court Judge Diane Humetewa wrote in her decision.

A Kansas judge also struck down a similar law in January.

The vast majority of American Jewish organizations have supported anti-BDS laws at the state level, including the American Jewish Committee, the Israel Project, and StandWithUs.

AJC filed an amicus brief supporting the Arizona law that was eventually overturned, arguing that the law “advances Arizona’s legitimate interest in protecting its commerce with Israel and insuring that Arizona can take full advantage of what Israel has to offer in its contracting.”

The law did not “infringe on private citizens’ rights,” to take actions against Israel, the group asserted, because “contractors can choose to boycott Israel in their private capacities as long as those private activities do not affect their contracting activities.”

The bill was fiercely criticized over the weekend by freshman Democrat Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American member of Congress.

“They forgot what country they represent,” the Michigan Democrat said in her tweet, referring to lawmakers’ attempts to pass the Combatting BDS Act. “This is the US where boycotting is a right & part of our historical fight for freedom & equality.”

Rubio, who introduced the bill, castigated Tlaib’s attacks as anti-Semitic.

“This ‘dual loyalty’ canard is a typical anti-Semitic line,” Rubio tweeted. “#BDS isn’t about freedom & equality, it’s about destroying #Israel.

“And if boycotting #Israel is constitutionally protected, then boycotting companies that boycott #Israel is also constitutionally protected.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans’ first bill of the new Congress aims to insert the legislative branch into US President Donald Trump’s Middle East policy — but also tries to drive a wedge between centrist and liberal Democrats over attitudes toward Israel.

The bipartisan package backed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican, Kentucky), had initially drawn widespread support ahead of Tuesday’s vote. It includes measures supporting Israel and Jordan and slapping sanctions on Syrians involved in war crimes. But Democrats are split over the addition of Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s “Combating BDS Act,” which seeks to counter the global Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement against Israel.

For now, the package will almost certainly stall. The bill comes amid the partial government shutdown, and Democrats say they will block it until government is reopened.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will oppose proceeding to the legislation, according to a senior aide who was unauthorized to speak publicly about the vote and spoke on condition of anonymity. Other Democratic senators who also support the bills will likely follow suit.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 3, 2019. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

Sen. Ben Cardin (Democrat, Maryland), tweeted that the Senate “should not take up any bills unrelated to reopening the government” until the shutdown is resolved.

But Republicans see an opening to focus on newly elected House Democrats, including the country’s first Palestinian American woman in Congress, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who has spoken about the rights of Americans to support the BDS issue.

“This is the US where boycotting is a right & part of our historical fight for freedom & equality,” Tlaib said in a weekend tweet. “Maybe a refresher on our US Constitution is in order, then get back to opening up our government instead of taking our rights away.”

Israel sees a growing threat from the BDS movement, which has led to increased boycotts of the Jewish state in support of the Palestinians. A Woodstock-style concert was canceled and some companies stopped offering services in the West Bank settlements. That has led to a “boycott of the boycotts” as Israel pushes back against those aligned with BDS.

In support of Israel, Rubio’s bills would affirm the legal authority of state and local governments to restrict contracts and take other actions against those “engaged in BDS conduct.” Several states are facing lawsuits after taking action against workers supporting BDS boycotts of Israel.

Opponents say Rubio’s measure infringes on free speech. Sen. Bernie Sanders (independent, Vermont), tweeted, “It’s absurd that the first bill during the shutdown is legislation which punishes Americans who exercise their constitutional right to engage in political activity. Democrats must block consideration of any bills that don’t reopen the government. Let’s get our priorities right.”

But Rubio’s office says the bill allows the governments “to counter economic warfare against Israel.”

Rubio, a Florida senator, said Monday in a series of tweets, including one pointed at Sanders and Tlaib: “The shutdown is not the reason Senate Democrats don’t want to move to Middle East Security Bill…. A significant # of Senate Democrats now support #BDS & Dem leaders want to avoid a floor vote that reveals that.”

US House Representative Rashida Tlaib participates in a ceremonial swearing-in at the start of the 116th Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, January 3, 2019. (SAUL LOEB/AFP)

Both sides are squaring off ahead of Tuesday’s votes. A coalition of civil liberties and liberal Jewish groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and J Street, is working to defeat the legislation, while the influential pro-Israel AIPAC supports it.

“Any contention that the bill infringes upon First Amendment rights is simply wrong,” said AIPAC’s Marshall Wittman by email. “It ensures Israel has the means necessary to defend itself-by itself-against growing threats and helps protect the right of states to counter boycotts against Israel.”

J Street’s President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a statement: “While millions of Americans suffer from the effects of the ongoing government shutdown, it’s outrageous that Senate Republican leaders are prioritizing legislation that tramples on the First Amendment and advances the interests of the Israeli settlement movement. Not a single Democrat should vote to enable this farce.”

Republicans hold a slim majority in the Senate and would need Democratic votes to advance the measure over the 60-vote threshold.