Sources are confirming that the CIA’s long-standing arms smuggling program for “moderate” Syrian rebels has been frozen since earlier this month, with the move coinciding with the beginning of infighting between the Free Syrian Army and al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front.
No official explanation was offered to the rebels for the freeze, though it had been reported since the election that President Trump intended to end the program, having insisted throughout the campaign that the US had no clue who the recipients of the arms actually are.
A big issue might have been that, when the FSA formed its anti-Qaeda coalition, the Nusra Front formed its own coalition to fight them, and the CIA program was arming forces in both groups, with the Nour al-Din al-Zinki faction joining the Nusra Front’s coalition against the nominally “moderate” Islamist faction.
While the US is no stranger to arming both sides of a conflict, it would be a bit unseemly to continue arming both as they escalate a fight against one-another, particularly when one party is attacking the other explicitly for not participating in the international peace talks.
Thus, it’s unclear if the infighting is the justification for the freeze, or if the Trump Administration was looking to make such a move anyhow and the infighting just sped the process up. Either way, the rebels are complaining that the loss of US arms threatens their war for regime change.
This of course has been a subject of debate in the US for some time at any rate, both as to whether the rebels have any hope of winning this Civil War amid mounting losses, and whether a regime change leading to Islamists dominating Syria is even a desirable outcome to get the CIA to try to impose.
Until the Administration is more explicit in its intentions, it’s impossible to say if the policy decision has been made, or if the freeze is just a temporary measure that’s going to give way to another effort to prop up rebel forces in the future.
Should we thank Tulsi or Trump? Disgusting that this was going on to begin with.
Tulsi has been advertising her bill against arming and funding terrorists. It is presently bottled up in the House Intelligence Committee, where neocon tool Rep. Ilana Ross-Lehtinen (R-Fla) will see to it that it is never brought up. This is good news and hopefully shows Tulsi’s influence on Trump, far more important than the House Intelligence committee.
Tulsi’s influence on Trump? Or the need for Tulsi to have an influence on Trump.
There’s something worth discussing!
US Syria operations were expanding when Hillary was expected to take over. They were getting a running start on what was expected from her.
The day after the election, the Obama Admin began to change course. This is just the culmination.
Anyway, the US ought never to have funded and armed the jihadi insurgency that has destroyed Syria. That was not done “for Syrians” but rather victimized them for other outside interests, involving designs against Iran.
Since we could not change the regime to one we liked, we decided to destroy the place. We did, and the population ran.
Only when they arrived somewhere else that was sensitive to us did we seem to care what we’d done to them, and then we cared only enough to throw them back like a fish we had not wanted to catch.
US/Syria operations were stalemated under the Obama presidency and still are. But could be revived again under Trump, at great risk. Go ask your dad why!
Aug 1, 2013 – Nuclear Strike on Syria
https://youtu.be/4GQRf1auUMc
Yes, if by “nuclear” you mean “unmistakably not nuclear.”
Brian please!
For fu-k sake.
Jason Ditz is surely smart enough to understand that the US is primarily interested in keeping the fighting going until the Assad regime is overthrown. That needs to happen before the US will be able to gain control over Syria without any interference from Russia.
But is Jason smart enough to understand that Trump will not interfere in this planned policy on Syria in any way. And of course, Trump hasn’t expressed any disagreement with US foreign policy on Syria.
Trump at best has only hinted of going in with a huge force that could bring peace to Syria.