White House weighs increased CIA involvement in Syrian war
November 20, 2014 3 Comments
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org
The government of the United States is considering plans to augment the Central Intelligence Agency’s clandestine role in Syria, amid fears that similar efforts by the US Department of Defense are failing. The CIA’s involvement in the Syrian civil war began in 2012, when US President Barack Obama issued a classified presidential finding that authorized Langley to arm and train opposition militias. The clandestine program was initially based in training camps in Jordan before eventually expanding to at least one location in Qatar. The CIA currently vets and trains approximately 400 opposition fighters every month with the help of commandos detailed to the Agency from the Pentagon. But the program may be about to escalate considerably, according to The Washington Post. The paper said last week that the option of expanding CIA arming and training operations in Syria was on the agenda at a recent meeting of senior national-security officials in Washington. The paper said that the proposed escalation of CIA operations in the region “reflects concern” about the slow pace of similar programs run by the US Department of Defense, which aim to train and arm anti-government militias. The latter have so far proved unable to counter the dominance of a host of al-Qaeda-inspired groups operating along the Iraqi-Syrian border. Earlier this month, a major CIA-backed armed group, known as Harakat Hazm, abandoned many of its positions in northern Syria, after it came under attack by Jabhat al-Nusra, an official al-Qaeda affiliate. Along with territory, Harakat Hazm left behind significant amounts of war material supplied to it by the US Pentagon. The Post said that other moderate opposition militias are beginning to view al-Qaeda-linked groups as their most viable option in defeating the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad, something which is worrying the White House. Spokesmen for the US government refused to comment on the report of a possible increase of CIA operations in Syria, or on whether the White House had reached a decision on the matter.
intelNews.org 
Does it make sense that “other moderate opposition militias are beginning to view al-Qaeda-linked groups as their most viable option in defeating the Syrian regime”? Surely the opposite must be true if the moderates are attracting Western support? Mind you, in the smoke and mirrors of the foggy Syrian hinterland anything that appears black is white and vice versa. Nevertheless, I don’t understand why the Post reached that conclusion and would appreciate any education on offer!
So, it is looking more and more like the best force to deal with ISIL may well be the Syrian army. We may have to decide whether Syria or ISIL is the more threatening force.
Of course,neither is a threat to us stateside, but it certainly seems that we are most alarmed by the actions of ISIL.
@Fairclough, Yes it completely makes sense that “the moderate opposition” sees al-Qaeda as a good option to oust the Syrian government. Why not? All of those militias have a common enemy, who is BTW an enemy of Israel, and it should be removed: Bashar al-Assad’s government. Sometimes they clash with each other, but this is because each group wants more dominance in the existing chaos. There are no moderate rebels in Syria, because all of them have killed Syrian people who objected to cooperate with them. And it’s not a secret anymore that al-Qaeda itself was a CIA invention to help the US govt expand its empire into the region. It’s all because of Israel. The Syrian govt poses no threat to Americans, but “a threat” to the Israeli government, that’s why the USA should do something! Stop believing the fake “war on terror” campaign and think for yourself!