Syria ‘Moderates’ Say US Strikes Fueled Backlash Against Them

Al-Qaeda Took Advantage of 'Popular Backlash' to Seize Territory

The pro-US rebels that have been all but wiped out in Syria’s Idlib Province have repeatedly pointed out that the US airstrikes were in large part to blame for their sudden change of fortune. Today, commanders expanded on that.

It was not only that al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front was spoiling for a fight with a US ally after US warplanes started attacking them, but that the towns the “moderates” controlled were teeming with a “popular backlash” during the course of this time, which made them even easier pickings for Nusra.

The “moderates” also dismissed claims that a recent US drone strike had killed a French al-Qaeda member, with their fighters saying they saw the man alive being rushed away from the scene of the attack by Nusra forces.

That’s been the story of a lot of the US attacks on “Khorasan,” which is really just Nusra Front rebranded by the US, as most of those attacks have claimed large leadership death tolls which are eventually revised to include almost no important fighters. The strikes have not accomplished much, then, except for fueling the backlash which is wiping out their allies in Idlib.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.