Turkish PM Lashes Out at US for Letting Armed Daesh Terrorists Leave Raqqa

Last month, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the complete liberation of Raqqa, which was seized by the Daesh in 2014 and proclaimed the group’s capital.

ANKARA (Sputnik) – Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim condemned on Tuesday the United States for its support for the free withdrawal of a Daesh convoy that consisted of 50 trucks with 10 of them being loaded with heavy weapons from the Syrian city of Raqqa.

"We told the United States: it is not a strategy for big states fighting against terrorism to use some terrorist groups in a struggle with others. Now nobody knows where these withdrawn terrorists will use their weapons against civilians – in Turkey, Europe, America or the whole world," Yildirim said.

READ MORE: Coalition Comments on Daesh Sleeper Cells in Syria's Raqqa After Liberation

The prime minister once again pointed out that Turkey considered the Syrian Kurdish Units terrorists.

"We see that armed Daesh terrorists left [Raqqa] being replaced by other terrorists from the Kurdish People's Protection Units [PYD]. Is that a smart policy? We turned out to be right again. But our aim is not to be right but to defeat terrorism," the prime minister added.

On Thursday, Syria's Permanent Mission to the United Nations reported that it had sent letters saying that the Daesh-led coalition had ensured withdrawal of Daesh terrorists from Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor. The BBC broadcaster reported that the drivers hired by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were forced to evacuate some 4,000 people from Raqqa in a convoy consisting of about 50 trucks, 13 buses and more than 100 vehicles of the Daesh itself in October. The jihadists, including the foreign mercenaries from Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, France, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen, had taken from Raqqa everything they could, including weapons and munitions.

The terrorists captured Raqqa in 2013 since then it was considered the unofficial capital of the Daesh. The liberation of the city was considered one of the main goals of the international antiterrorist coalition led by the United States.