AcademicSaucer
Member
Syrian rebel commanders said Thursday that they were disappointed in the Trump administrations decision to end a covert CIA weapons and training program for opposition fighters, an initiative that began under President Barack Obama but fizzled out amid battlefield losses and concerns about extremism within rebel ranks.
We definitely feel betrayed, said Gen. Tlass al-Salameh of Osoud al-Sharqiya, a group affiliated with the Free Syrian Army. Salameh and his deputies say that they have received CIA support to rout the Islamic State from areas of eastern Syria but that they have also fought battles against pro-government forces.
It feels like we are being abandoned at a very difficult moment, Salameh said. It feels like they only wanted to help when we were fighting [the Islamic State]. Now that we are also fighting the regime, the Americans want to withdraw.
Salameh and others, reached by phone Thursday, said they had only read about the decision, which was first reported by The Washington Post, in reports translated by local news media. The commanders were unclear how the policy to end the program would be implemented or whether their fighters would be affected.
The picture is not clear for us yet, but I think it is a very bad move, Col. Ahmed al-Hammadi, a Free Syrian Army commander in the Damascus countryside, said of the decision.
It will give a boost to the Assad regime and strengthen the Iranians, he said, referring to Irans substantial support for Assad. And it will weaken Americas influence in Syria and the region.
It made a difference, but not a massive one, he said of the CIA support. Its not like the U.S. is sending us planes or ground troops.
The Obama policy was, in fact, designed to provoke a battlefield stalemate which the administration hoped would lead to a negotiated end to the conflict. It began in 2013, with training and weapons for rebels vetted for extremist ties.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...76f252-6cbc-11e7-abbc-a53480672286_story.html