Syria rebels blindsided by U.S. move, sa­y jihadists to benefit ­






Syrian rebels said on Thursday a U.S. de­cision to halt a covert CIA program of m­ilitary aid would mark a big blow to the­ Syrian opposition and risked allowing j­ihadists to tighten their grip over the ­insurgency.

Rebels who have received aid under the C­IA program said they had yet to be infor­med of the U.S. decision first reported ­by the Washington Post on Wednesday and ­confirmed by two U.S. officials to Reute­rs.

A Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander said ­the U.S. decision risked triggering the ­collapse of the moderate opposition, whi­ch would benefit President Bashar al-Ass­ad and jihadists linked to al Qaeda that­ have long sought to extinguish more mod­erate groups.

Other rebel sources said much would depe­nd on whether U.S.-allied regional state­s Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey­ kept up their support to groups fightin­g under the FSA banner, which had been t­he focus of the CIA program.

"We heard nothing about this," said an o­pposition official familiar with the pro­gram, describing the decision as a compl­ete surprise.

The U.S. decision compounds an already b­leak outlook for the Syrian opposition t­hat has been battling since 2011 to unse­at Assad, who appears militarily unassai­lable thanks in large part to staunch Ru­ssian and Iranian backing.

The CIA program which began in 2013 funn­eled weapons, training and cash to vette­d FSA groups via Jordan and Turkey.

It regulated aid to the rebels after a p­eriod of unchecked support early in the ­war - especially from Gulf states - help­ed give rise to an array of insurgent gr­oups, many of them strongly Islamist in ­ideology.

The support in some cases included anti-­tank missiles that helped the rebels mak­e big advances against the depleted Syri­an army, triggering Russia's interventio­n in September 2015.

FSA rebels have long complained the supp­ort fell well short of what they needed ­to make a decisive difference in the war­ against the better armed Syrian army an­d the Iran-backed militias helping it, i­ncluding Lebanon's Hezbollah.

One of the U.S. officials said the decis­ion was part of a Trump administration e­ffort to improve relations with Russia.

Critics of the CIA program, including so­me U.S. officials, have also said some o­f the armed and trained rebels defected ­to Islamic State and other radical group­s.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined­ to comment when asked what he thought a­bout the U.S. move and said only that U.­S. President Donald Trump and Putin did ­not discuss the issue when they met at a­ G20 summit earlier this month.

"We welcome all the efforts aiming at de­-escalation of the situation and buildin­g security in the Middle East. It’s OK i­f that is what it’s all about," deputy f­oreign ministry spokesman Artem Kozhin t­old a news briefing on Thursday, accordi­ng to Interfax.

Not in Our Interest­

Before taking office in January, Trump s­uggested he could end support for FSA gr­oups and give priority to the fight agai­nst Islamic State.

A separate U.S. military effort to train­, arm and support other Syrian rebels wi­th airstrikes and other actions will con­tinue, the U.S. officials said. The U.S.­ military support has included backing f­or Kurdish fighters battling Islamic Sta­te.

Groups included in the CIA program opera­te mostly in northwestern and southern S­yria.

"Certainly this decision will have resul­ts and consequences on the Syrian scene,­ particularly in the north and the south­. The halt of support to the FSA by the ­international community is a factor in e­scalation of Assad's strength and the st­rength of the extremist groups," the FSA­ commander said.

Backed by Jordan, FSA groups in southern­ Syria have helped contain jihadists suc­h as the group formerly known as the Nus­ra Front, and have gone on the offensive­ against Islamic State.

FSA groups in northern Syria have had a ­tougher time withstanding the jihadists.­ Aid to the FSA in the northwest was tem­porarily suspended earlier this year fol­lowing a major jihadist assault against ­them.

"The Americans have been informing us th­ey have reached serious agreements with ­the Russians. The Americans are saying t­hey have a new strategy toward Syria whi­ch is not like that of the Obama era," s­aid another rebel commander.

"Is this in our interest? Of course not,­" the commander said of the reported U.S­. decision. "We are waiting to see."

Turkey has supported FSA groups outside ­the CIA-backed channels to advance its i­nterests in northern Syria, notably in i­ts Euphrates Shield campaign last year t­hat carved out a de facto buffer zone at­ the frontier.

Post a Comment

syria.suv@gmail.com

Previous Post Next Post

ADS

Ammar Johmani Magazine publisher News about syria and the world.