US Main Aid Group for “Syrian Opposition” Collapses into Disarray: Daily Telegraph

LONDON- The British Daily Telegraph newspaper has learnt that the main Western support group for the Syrian “opposition” is in disarray, has failed to channel any substantial aid to fighters on the ground and is “struggling to keep the lights on”.

The daily said that even as the Syrian Arab Army has made sweeping advances across parts of the country, the “Syrian Support Group” (SSG), which was formed by the American Administration late in 2011, has been riven by internal divisions and struggled to raise funds.

According to the newspaper, the group had been considered a potential “game-changer” whose money-raising abilities would equip the armed groups with much-needed modern weapons.

The Telegraph pointed out that instead of using a unique US license to funnel funds to the “opposition”, the group has spent months pursuing a fruitless dash to make millions of dollars from Syrian oil.

One former staff member in the group has alleged that the leadership had become “obsessed” with landing a jackpot oil deal and lost sight of its core mission to back the gunmen in Syria.

The head of the SSG in Washington resigned last month after the group failed to gain real traction with US officials and its London operation is under threat of closure after falling foul of the Government, the newspaper said.

The British Foreign Office has demanded the group repay thousands of pounds from a grant after determining that some of the money was improperly spent.

The newspaper pointed out that over the past few months, the Syrian army has made major advances regaining control over key towns and cities including most of Homs, all of Qusayr and was reported yesterday to be advancing on the Aleppo suburbs.

The newspaper quoted David Falt, a whistleblower who served as SSG’s European government affairs director, as saying that the private donations dried up after the US State Department warned the SSG that its funds could not be used for weapons. Instead, according to Falt, the group turned its efforts from fundraising to pursuing large and controversial oil deals under the leadership of “Brian Sayers”, a former Nato official.

The daily added that Falt has revealed internal emails between Sayers and others, containing proposals to raise money by selling rights to Syrian oil output.

“Brian and some others were obsessed with the oil. The idea they could raise hundreds of millions from the sale of the oil came to dominate the work of the SSG to the point no real attention was paid to the nature of the conflict,” said Falt, according to the Daily Telegrapoh.

 H. Mustafa