Trigger Hippie
Senior Member.
The Claim: US is funding al-Qaeda in Syria
Assad says terrorists causing Syria unrest --June 2011
Russia Says U.S. Risks Al-Qaeda Boomerang With Syria Rebels --June 2013
La mise en garde d'Assad à la France --Sept 2013
American Republicans joined in the allegations by insinuating that supporting rebel fighters was akin to being al-Qaeda's air force. Others explicitly stated that to support rebels was to support al-Qaeda. The meme got traction and flourished in social media.
U.S. Official Concerned Weapons May Go to Al-Nusra --June 2013
Senator Ted Cruz weighs in on U.S. military action in Syria --Sept 2013
The Rebels in Syria
Salafi Jihadists - Strict and puritanical, seeking a Caliphate, loath the west.
Islamists - Want to create a Islamic state within Syria ruled by Sharia law.
Moderates - Everyone else: those with no ideology, regular Muslims, secular lesbian feminists, etc.
From moderates to jihadists, most factions in the later part of 2012 were cooperating under the single banner of the Free Syrian Army. Within a year, violent infighting and ideological differences prompted 13 (mostly Islamist) groups to split from the FSA. On Sept 25, 2013, these breakaway factions officially rejected the legitimacy of the western backed interim government (the Syrian National Coalition) and the military authority of the Supreme Military Council.
Wikipedia --Syrian opposition
Wikipedia --List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
Islamist rebels in Syria reject National Coalition --Sept 2013
Syria's Military Opposition -Rebel Operational Capabilities --Sept 2013
Important to note is that the influence of rebel factions is now mostly regional and sometimes even local in scale. Few if any, have influence over all of Syria. The north is controlled by the Islamists and Jihadists, and the rest by the moderate FSA. As such, the rebels make a loosely knit mosaic of alliances whose only similarities is often the immediate goal of fighting the Syrian regime.
al-Qaeda in Syria
There are three al-Qaeda affiliates within Syria, only one of which had for a short time accepted direction from the Free Syrian Army. The other two, ISIL and Al-Nusra, cooperated with the FSA only in the sense that they fought the common enemy of the Assad regime. Rebel hostility towards al-Qaeda backed groups grew throughout 2013. What had always been a rivalry grew into open hostility with limited clashes and the occasional murders of one another's commanders. In Jan 2014, all rebel factions, the moderates, Islamist and other al-Qaeda backed groups, were pushing ISIL out Syria.
The situation reached a head in Feb 2014. A foreign emissary from core al-Qaeda was dispatch to settle the bitter dispute between ISIL and Al-Nusra, the two main al-Qaeda groups. It is believed ISIL executed him shortly after he entered Syria.
Free Syrian Army threatens blood feud after senior officer killed by jihadists --July 2013
Syrian rebels launch fierce offensive against al Qaeda fighters --Jan 2014
The Battle between ISIS and Syria’s Rebel Militias --Jan 2014
European Council on Foreign Relations - Syria's uprising within an uprising --Jan 2014
Rebel funding
New York Times --March 2013
Avoiding what they considered "imperialist influence", the al-Qaeda affiliates never asked for foreign government support and criticized those rebel groups that did accept it. Al-Qaeda subsisted on captured regime weapons and their funding came from other al-Qaeda organizations and private individuals from outside the country.
Syria's Military Opposition -Profiling Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham --Sept 2013
US Involvement
Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With Aid From C.I.A. --March 2013
Saudis and CIA agree to Arm Syrian “Moderates” with Advanced Weapons --CMES Univ. of Oklahoma
Conclusion
The current structure and interrelationships of rebel groups would make it more difficult for western arms to unintentionally reach al-Qaeda. However everyone agrees that the prospect is not impossible and may even be likely. There is no evidence that the US is knowingly and willing supplying al-Qaeda. Those claims are based on oversimplified notions that classify all Syrian rebels as al-Qaeda; More politically motivated than factually based.
An Al Qaeda affiliated organization, namely Syria’s Al Nusrah, is being supported “overtly” by the US President, rather than “covertly” by the CIA.
Fighting Al Qaeda by Supporting Al Qaeda in Syria: The Obama Administration is a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” --June 2013
The roots of the claim can be traced back to the very beginning of the rebellion. Syrian president Assad was the first to label the "rebels" as terrorists. By late 2013, he expanded his claim to say that up to 90% of rebels where al-Qaeda. Russian president Putin (Syria's friend and ally) characterized rebels as people that “not only kill their enemies but cut open their bodies and eat their innards before the public and cameras.”the Pentagon is giving Al Qaeda and the Taliban funding, even though Al Qaeda and the Taliban are planning to carry out attacks on US citizens. How can this be happening? It would appear the US government is at war with their own people.
It’s Official: US Funding Al Qaeda and Taliban --Aug 2013
Assad says terrorists causing Syria unrest --June 2011
Russia Says U.S. Risks Al-Qaeda Boomerang With Syria Rebels --June 2013
La mise en garde d'Assad à la France --Sept 2013
American Republicans joined in the allegations by insinuating that supporting rebel fighters was akin to being al-Qaeda's air force. Others explicitly stated that to support rebels was to support al-Qaeda. The meme got traction and flourished in social media.
U.S. Official Concerned Weapons May Go to Al-Nusra --June 2013
Senator Ted Cruz weighs in on U.S. military action in Syria --Sept 2013
The Rebels in Syria
The U.S., France, the U.K., Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other nations have struggled to unify and strengthen Syria’s moderate opposition, encountering setbacks involving leadership, ethnic representation and the role of expatriate Syrians.
Split Weakens U.S.-Backed Syrian Rebels as Islamists Gain --Sept 2013
Current military situation: Rebel “operations” are limited in geographical scope, employing composite and territorial units drawn from the local area or nearby.
Syria's Military Opposition -The Military Opposition on the Ground --Sept 2013
Syrian rebels have never been unified. They are divided into factions that are best differentiated on ideological grounds. The factions will periodically shuffle themselves into new coalitions, but their individual ideologies and goals keep them largely divided. For the sake of simplicity they're ideologies can be characterized as:Other rebel groups are maintaining an increasingly strained unity – at least while the battle against the Syrian regime continues. Most say the next battle is against the Jihadists.
Syria: how jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra is taking over Syria's revolution --Feb 2013
Salafi Jihadists - Strict and puritanical, seeking a Caliphate, loath the west.
Islamists - Want to create a Islamic state within Syria ruled by Sharia law.
Moderates - Everyone else: those with no ideology, regular Muslims, secular lesbian feminists, etc.
From moderates to jihadists, most factions in the later part of 2012 were cooperating under the single banner of the Free Syrian Army. Within a year, violent infighting and ideological differences prompted 13 (mostly Islamist) groups to split from the FSA. On Sept 25, 2013, these breakaway factions officially rejected the legitimacy of the western backed interim government (the Syrian National Coalition) and the military authority of the Supreme Military Council.
Wikipedia --Syrian opposition
Wikipedia --List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
Islamist rebels in Syria reject National Coalition --Sept 2013
Syria's Military Opposition -Rebel Operational Capabilities --Sept 2013
Important to note is that the influence of rebel factions is now mostly regional and sometimes even local in scale. Few if any, have influence over all of Syria. The north is controlled by the Islamists and Jihadists, and the rest by the moderate FSA. As such, the rebels make a loosely knit mosaic of alliances whose only similarities is often the immediate goal of fighting the Syrian regime.
al-Qaeda in Syria
There are three al-Qaeda affiliates within Syria, only one of which had for a short time accepted direction from the Free Syrian Army. The other two, ISIL and Al-Nusra, cooperated with the FSA only in the sense that they fought the common enemy of the Assad regime. Rebel hostility towards al-Qaeda backed groups grew throughout 2013. What had always been a rivalry grew into open hostility with limited clashes and the occasional murders of one another's commanders. In Jan 2014, all rebel factions, the moderates, Islamist and other al-Qaeda backed groups, were pushing ISIL out Syria.
The situation reached a head in Feb 2014. A foreign emissary from core al-Qaeda was dispatch to settle the bitter dispute between ISIL and Al-Nusra, the two main al-Qaeda groups. It is believed ISIL executed him shortly after he entered Syria.
Free Syrian Army threatens blood feud after senior officer killed by jihadists --July 2013
Syrian rebels launch fierce offensive against al Qaeda fighters --Jan 2014
The Battle between ISIS and Syria’s Rebel Militias --Jan 2014
European Council on Foreign Relations - Syria's uprising within an uprising --Jan 2014
Rebel funding
Meanwhile pro-democracy rebel group commanders say money from foreign governments has all but dried up because of fears over radical Islamists.
Syria: how jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra is taking over Syria's revolution --Feb 2013
Sponsorship for rebel factions comes from foreign governments and individuals who wish to see their own particular ideology flourish within Syria. Saudi Arabia and Qatar often grew frustrated in the early stages of the armed rebellion. At that time, the factions were more closely cooperating, munitions destined for Islamists could find their way into the hands of moderates or jihadists; and the other way around. Partly due to Kurdish middlemen, there was little control over the flow of weapons once they entered Syria.Jabhat al-Nusra has three main streams of funding to pay its fighters and wage its war against the Assad regime. When JN was first established with al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in the summer of 2011, AQI provided seed funding to jumpstart its operations. Since then, according to Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Husseini al-Quray- shi al-Baghdadi, the emir of AQI, AQI sends half its funds to JN each month.20 Similar to other al-Qaeda branches, JN is also believed to have funding from private individuals (though not governments) in Gulf states. Some JN fighters told the McClatchy news service in December 2012 that most private funding comes from Saudis."
Syria's Military Opposition -Jabhat al-Nusra --Sept 2013
New York Times --March 2013
Avoiding what they considered "imperialist influence", the al-Qaeda affiliates never asked for foreign government support and criticized those rebel groups that did accept it. Al-Qaeda subsisted on captured regime weapons and their funding came from other al-Qaeda organizations and private individuals from outside the country.
Syria's Military Opposition -Profiling Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham --Sept 2013
US Involvement
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has been an advocate for U.S. military aid to moderate factions, said the shift by rebel factions that had been aligned with the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, the military arm of the opposition coalition, forecloses providing them with U.S. weapons.
Split Weakens U.S.-Backed Syrian Rebels as Islamists Gain --Sept 2013
Because the control of arms shipments inside Syria was uncertain, the US was always hesitated providing lethal aide. Despite Saudi objections, they opposed the shipment of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, and outright stopped the flow of small arms and nonlethal aide at signs of trouble. The CIA had some limited influence over logistics, but it was not enough to guarantee that gulf state sponsored guns did not end up in hands of al-Qaeda.Congressional committees held up weapons deliveries for months over fears that U.S. arms would not prove decisive in the rebels' efforts to oust President Bashar Assad and his government and could well end up in the hands of Islamist militants.
Congress secretly approves U.S. weapons flow to 'moderate' Syrian rebels --Jan 2014
Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With Aid From C.I.A. --March 2013
Saudis and CIA agree to Arm Syrian “Moderates” with Advanced Weapons --CMES Univ. of Oklahoma
Conclusion
The current structure and interrelationships of rebel groups would make it more difficult for western arms to unintentionally reach al-Qaeda. However everyone agrees that the prospect is not impossible and may even be likely. There is no evidence that the US is knowingly and willing supplying al-Qaeda. Those claims are based on oversimplified notions that classify all Syrian rebels as al-Qaeda; More politically motivated than factually based.
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