President-elect Donald Trump is planning a major overhaul to US policy in Syria, and that’s got the putative “moderate” rebels that have been getting US funds and weapons fretting, as the CIA program responsible for smuggling that gear in is set to be cancelled.
The CIA has been eager to regularly increase the amount of weapons provided to the rebels, and has sought to shift the focus of US policy in Syria toward imposing regime change, and to dial down efforts to go after ISIS. Trump campaigned on the oppose, moving away from the regime change efforts and focusing on fighting ISIS.
Some of the rebels are hoping Trump’s opposition to arming them directly might actually work out in their favor, theorizing that without direct US involvement, Trump will be more ambivalent about what the Saudis give the rebels, allowing Saudi forces to throw ever more advanced arms at them.
While President Obama continued arming the rebels despite their ineffectiveness on the battle field and growing signs that they were aligning with Islamist factions within Syria, he limited the types of weapons the Saudis could smuggle in to them, particularly anti-aircraft weapons that might end up used against civilian aircraft, or given to Islamist groups that might attack US planes.
Some of the people in the “Trump Names Bellicose Figures” article should read this article and calm down for a bit.
anti-aircraft weapons that might end up used against civilian aircraft,poor excuse, the US supplied the mujahedin in afghan war against Russia, did they shoot down US or any civilian airplanes, if US had supplied the rebels in Syria anti-aircraft weapons the war would have ended long time ago and thousands of life could have been saved.
If the US govt, subverted by Israel into implementing the Oded Yinon Plan, hadn’t embarked on the Neocon — ie Israeli agents — regime change program in the first place, the terrorist proxy war you call a “civil” war would never have happened, and Syria would be the peaceful, stable, prosperous country it was before its destruction by the agents of criminal Zionism.
The Donald has been committing himself to bombing ISIS – any SAM weapons the Saudis give to the rebels will end up being used on US aircraft.
Heading should read “Syrian TERRORISTS Fret Over Trump’s Planned Syria Overhaul”.
Rebels = Liberal Orwellian Newspeak for terrorists. I always ask people when discussing the war to destroy secular Syria, can they tell me any reason why we would want to destroy secular Syria? Have they ever done anything to us? The answer is no