ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Islamic State (ISIS) fighters pulled out of Palmyra in an agreement with the Syrian government, according to files obtained by British media outlet Sky News. Sky News maintains that documents they exclusively obtained and interviews they conducted with ISIS defectors reveal that Damascus and ISIS have been cooperating for years, making battleground deals. The celebrated victory of the Syrian army over ISIS in Palmyra in March was actually a planned handover, a defector told Sky News. ISIS reportedly agreed to withdraw from the city in advance of the army’s offensive. The retaking of Palmyra was hailed around the world as a major victory for embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a major setback for the Islamic State. Sky News said that such collusion took place on other battlefields as well, where ISIS agreed to evacuate before Syrian army offensives. When asked by Sky News if ISIS coordinated with the Syrian army and Russian air force to evacuate areas in advance of attacks, a defector answered, “Of course.” Sky News is also reporting that the Syrian government carried out business with the militants, exchanging oil for fertilizer. In addition to interviews with former ISIS militants, Sky News has strong contacts with the Free Syrian Army, providing another valuable source of information. Some of the documents Sky News obtained are handwritten orders sent from ISIS headquarters. One letter instructs a commander to "transfer all equipment and weapons to the agreed evacuation point. We have received intelligence that al Qasr and its surroundings will be bombed on 24th November, 2013". Sky News believes that the collusion between the Assad government and ISIS is widespread and has been ongoing for years. The authenticity of the documents Sky News has relied on for their investigation is “impossible to verify” the media outlet states, “but all previous leaks of material funded through this group have proved to be genuine.”
