The new leaked documents
are copies of handwritten orders sent from Islamic State's headquarters. Islamic
State and the Assad regime in Syria have been colluding with each other in
deals on the battleground, according to report.
The exclusive investigation
into leaked secret IS files suggests one piece of co-operation was over the
ancient city of Palmyra.
The files also show that
the militant group has been training foreign fighters to attack Western targets
for much longer than security services had suspected.
The revelations underscore
fears in the United States that a network of sleeper cells is spread across
Europe, avoiding detection, and is planning further Paris- and Brussels-style
assaults.
IS defectors, meanwhile,
have told Sky News that Palmyra was handed back to government forces by Islamic
State as part of a series of cooperation agreements going back years.
They show:
An agreement with the
Syrian regime to withdraw IS weapons from Palmyra.
A deal between IS and Syria
to trade oil for fertiliser and;
Arrangements to evacuate
some areas by Islamic State forces BEFORE the Syrian army attacked.
All appear to be pre-agreed
deals and suggest direct evidence of collusion between the Syrian regime and
Islamic State chiefs.
For the past 18 months Sky
News has maintained contacts with a Free Syrian Army group originally from
Islamic State's headquarters in Raqqa, but now living across the border in
Turkey.
The group operates a
network to smuggle defectors away from IS.
Some of the defectors
openly admit their prior allegiance to the terror group and acknowledge that
they only left because of internal disagreements with some of the IS
leadership.
In reality they remain
wedded to the basic tenets of Islamic State: strict Sharia law, a caliphate and
on-going war against anyone deemed to be an enemy.
The authenticity of the
latest documents is impossible to verify, but all previous leaks of material
funnelled through this group have proved to be genuine.
One document requests safe
passage for a driver through IS checkpoints "until he reaches the border
with the Syrian regime to exchange oil for fertiliser".
The defectors claim that
this is a trade agreement between the two sides that has been going on for
years.
Another letter contains
instructions for 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".
The defectors claim this
was a withdrawal agreed between Syria and Islamic State.
The most interesting
document was written shortly before the Syrian army recaptured the ancient city
of Palmyra, after months of occupation by IS.
"Withdraw all heavy
artillery and anti-aircraft machine guns from in and around Palmyra to Raqqa
province," the document says.
I asked one of the
defectors if Islamic State was coordinating movement of its fighters and
leaving areas they previously controlled, in direct coordination with the
Syrian army and even the Russian airforce.
His answer was simple.
"Of course," he said.
Sky News
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