America is Losing its Covert Syria War: US Sponsored Al Nusra Rebels Defeated by Syrian Armed Forces

ANGLO AMERICA, MILITARISM, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, SYRIA IN CONTEXT, 27 May 2013

Prof Michel Chossudovsky – Global Research

Recent reports from the ground suggest that America and its allies are losing their covert war in support of the Al Nusra front. In recent weeks, the US sponsored Al Qaeda affiliated rebels have been decimated by the Syrian Armed Forces.

A nationwide offensive has been launched with the support of Russia and Iran. The weapons supply routes of the rebels have been disrupted:

“the [Syrian] army has concentrated on starving, and cutting off “rebel” supply routes and arms corridors, which predominantly run through Northern Lebanon,  Turkey, and Jordan” (See Buying Time in Syria by Phil Greaves, Global Research, May 11, 2013)

Al Nusra is largely made up of mercenaries recruited in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Covert (Western) special forces and military advisers have also integrated their ranks.

The Al Qaeda affiliated terrorists directly funded by Washington constitute the foot-soldiers of the Western military alliance.

Confirmed by CNN, the Al Nusra terrorists have also been trained in the use of chemical weapons by special forces on contract to the Pentagon:

The training [in chemical weapons], which is taking place in Jordan and Turkey, involves how to monitor and secure stockpiles and handle weapons sites and materials, according to the sources. Some of the contractors are on the ground in Syria working with the rebels to monitor some of the sites, according to one of the officials.

The nationality of the trainers was not disclosed, though the officials cautioned against assuming all are American. (CNN, December 09, 2012, emphasis added

And once these Al Qaeda rebels had been supplied and trained in the use of WMDs by military contractors hired by the Pentagon,  the Syrian government would then be held responsible for using the WMD against the Syrian people.

US Sponsored Terrorists

The most recent report by SANA, the official news agency (March 12) provides details on actions taken by the Syrian armed forces against Al Nusra rebels in different parts of the country:

Units of the armed forces on Saturday continued chasing terrorist groups in several areas in Damascus and its countryside, inflicting heavy losses upon their members, including non-Syrians.

An official source told SANA reporter that an army unit carried out a special operation in al-Beiraqdar neighborhood in Hijeira town that resulted in the killing of a number of terrorists.

…

The source added that numbers of terrorists were killed and their weapons were destroyed in al-Husseiniyeh town.

An army unit chased members of a terrorist group in al-Fakhoureh area in Wadi Barada market and killed most of them, while another army unit carried out killed four terrorists, including two snipers, in Daraya city.

A unit of the armed forces clashed with an armed terrorist group in Harasta city and killed a number of them, while another unit clashed with an armed terrorist group  in Jobar and eliminated all its members and destroyed their weapons.

Also in Damascus Countryside, a military source said that Army units assumed control of al-Abbadeh area and the surrounding farms in the eastern Ghouta region, and the Armed Forces continued to advance in the town of Jarba from three points and seized control of vital areas around the town in order to cut off supplies from terrorists and encircle them.

An Armed Forces unit clashed with terrorists from Jabhet al-Nusra who were committing robberies and theft in the town of Jassem in Daraa countryside, injuring a number of them and killing others, including a Saudi called Ammar al-Shemmari and a Kuwaiti called Mahmoud al-Mtairi, both of which were leaders in Jabhet al-Nusra and responsible for manufacturing explosives.

…

Terrorists groups in Aleppo continue to suffer heavy losses at the hands of the army units which carried out today several operations that resulted in destroying amounts of weapons and ammunition in the terrorists’ dens.

SANA reporter quoted an official source as saying that numbers of terrorists were killed and others were injured to the north of the electricity company in al-Sheikh Saeed area and near al-Tawabeen Mosque and at the entrance of Handarat camp.

A heavy machinegun and various types of weapons and ammunition were destroyed in the aforementioned areas.

The source also mentioned that units of the armed forces killed a number of terrorists in the surrounding of the industrial City, the Free Zone, the glass factory and al-Zira’a area.

The army members destroyed the terrorists’ equipment and weapons, including a 23 mm caliber anti-aircraft gun, a heavy machinegun and a number of cars loaded with weapons and ammunition, the source added.

In Minnegh town, an army unit killed members of an armed terrorist group and injured others in al-Alqamiyeh area and near the Agricultural Research Center.

Other terrorists were killed near al-Daqaq factory and to the south of Ibrahim al-Khalil Mosque in Khan al-Assal. A car loaded with weapons and ammunition was destroyed in the area.

…

Units of the armed forces continued targeting the gatherings and dens of Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists in the countryside of Idleb.

SANA reporter quoted an official source as saying that the army units destroyed weapons and equipment the terrorists had been using in their criminal acts in the surrounding of al-Fanar restaurant in Jabal al-Arabaeen area.

Many terrorists were killed and others were injured in the town of Kfarlata and the city of Ariha that are affiliated to Jabal al-Arbaeen area.

The source added that units of the armed forces destroyed terrorists’ dens, along with the weapons and ammunition inside, in the towns of Ein al-Qasab, Mashmashan, Qatroun, al-Najiyeh, Ein al-Barideh, Bazit, Darkoush, Heish, Tall Salmo, Um Jreen, al-Buweiti, al-Tur’eh and Mseibin.

In the same context, members of a terrorist group were eliminated near M’atrem town on Ariha-Jisr al-Shughour road, while army units continue pursuing terrroists in the surrounding of the brick factory and al-Shabibeh camp.

In the city of Saraqeb, an army unit killed and injured several terrorists affiliated to the so-called ‘al-Tawhid Brigade’ in the surrounding of the Pullman garage. The terrorists’ weapons and equipment were seized.

…

In the meantime, an army unit eliminated members of an armed terrorist group in Jub al-Ahmar village in the countryside of Hama and destroyed their weapons, which included heavy machineguns.

…

The Army units continued pursuing the armed teorrist groups in several neighborhoods in Deir Ezzor city and killed scores of them.

An official source told SANA reporter that a unit of the armed forces destroyed a terrorist gathering in al-Sinaa neighborhood, while another unit eliminated an armed terrorist group at al-Siyasieh bridge. (SANA, May 11, 2013

Ironically, while the Al Nusra terrorists are directly supported and financed by the Pentagon, they are on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations.

Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent initiatives have largely been instrumental in increasing the flow of money and military support to the terrorists under the disguise of “humanitarian aid”.

Political Turnaround

The UN Security Council is slated to add the al-Nusra Front to its sanctions blacklist.  Ironically  this initiative comes “as the Syrian government asked the Security Council to blacklist al-Nusra last month, but the request was blocked by Britain and France.” (Press TV, May 11, 2013).

Now that Al Nusra, an entity created and sponsored by Western intelligence, is being decimated by the Syrian Armed Forces,  the US and its allies are calling for the channeling of weapons and financial support to the more moderate “non-Islamist” rebel factions.

France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has called on the UN to classify Syria’s al-Nusra Front as a terrorist organisation “in order to differentiate the Islamist group from other opposition forces”

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius pressed the United Nations on Thursday to blacklist Syria’s al-Nusra Front as a terrorist organisation, in an effort to set the militant Islamist group apart from other more moderate opposition forces in the country.

“In order to avoid any ambiguity, we suggest that the al-Nusra Front, which is opposed to [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad but is also a branch of al Qaeda, be classified as a ‘terrorist organisation on the UN level,’” the French foreign minister stated in an interview with French daily Le Monde.

Fabius also said that France wanted to increase its support of Syria’s opposition organisation, the Syrian National Coalition, highlighting that it needed to “grow, unify and clearly guarantee that the rights of all communities be respected in the event of a regime change”.

What these developments suggest is that Al Nusra rebels are cannon fodder. They are no longer supported and upheld as freedom fighters.

Washington in consultation with its Western allies has decided to sacrifice its Al Qaeda affiliated foot-soldiers who are now being decimated by the Syrian army.

While Britain and France had blocked Syria’s earlier initiative to include Al Nusra on the United Nations Security Council terrorist list, the initiative is now emanating not from Syria but from those countries, which until recently were providing the Al Nusra front, with money and weapons.

Moreover,  Washington’s direct financial support to Al Nusra, brokered by Obama’s new Secretary of State John Kerry, has become, to say the least, the source of diplomatic embarrassment.

In this regard, it is worth noting that an American citizen who is indirectly suspected, with or without evidence, of supporting an Al Qaeda affiliated entity would immediately be arrested, with of course the exception of Secretary of the State John Kerry, among other senior US officials, who are supporting Al Qaeda units on behalf of the US government.

Those who are waging the “Global War on Terrorism” are supporting the terrorists. But its all for cause: support “good guy terrorists” with a view to “promoting democracy”.

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Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal and Editor of the globalresearch.ca website. He is the author of The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003) and America’s “War on Terrorism”(2005). His most recent book is entitled Towards a World War III Scenario: The Dangers of Nuclear War (2011).

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