US Strategy to Arm “Moderate” Terrorists in Syria Will Fail

Some few days ago, US Congress overwhelmingly approved a Obama administration’s request for authorization to train and arm “rebel” forces in Syria fighting Syrian Arab Army. According to the US administration, a rebel force of 5,000 fighters should be able to fight against both the Syrian Arab Army and the terrorist group Islamic State (ISIL). This operation to strengthen the “good terrorists” will be financed with 500 million dollars by US taxpayers.

According to media, some experts of the US intelligence community doubt  the effectiveness of this plan. They see it as a repeat of the same failed strategy launched by Washington in these past three years of the crisis in Syria. US President Barack Obama himself said in a interview with The New York Times in August that the idea that arming rebels would have made a difference had “always been a fantasy.” Therefore, given that the US Administration insists on this strategy, someone could wonder if the opposition armed groups, which have been unable to defeat the Syrian Arab Army and government when the conditions for the Syrian state were much worse, could now fight both the Syrian army and ISIL and win. Isn’t it a greater fantasy?

FSA commander Bassil Idriss was recently quoted by Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star as saying that he regularly cooperates with ISIL in attacking Syrian Arab Army along the Syria-Lebanon border. “Fighting at the border crossing in Qalamoun is actually a joint FSA-ISIL operation”, according to the paper. This mutual collaboration is one of the main reasons, along with corruption, for which a large number of American weapons have ended up in the hands of ISIL.

Another group chosen by the US Administration for assistance is Harakat al-Hazm,which has around 7,000 fighters and is linked to Turkey and Qatar. In fact, it has already received US weapons. However, Los Angeles Times recently published an article by a reporter working in Syria, in which he recounted a conversation with two Harakat al-Hazm fighters who admitted the group´s cooperation with al-Nusra Front. “Nusra does not fight us and we actually fight alongside them. We like Nusra”, they said.

Even worse for the US government, Harakat al-Hazm has denounced airstrikes conducted against the militants of the Islamic State by the US-led coalition. The group has publicly lashed out at the US for launching an offensive against the ISIS on the Syrian territory, AFP reported.

Despite all these evidences, the US administration refuses to admit that all these “moderate” groups and ISIL share the same extremist Wahhabi ideology and the takfiri thought. This explains why so many FSA members are joining the ISIL every day. Western media have reported a growing number of defections of these fighters into ISIL. Of course, the defectors bring the US-supplied weapons with them.

Another problem for the US strategy is that numerous militant factions are fighting each other (and not ISIL). In recent days, there have been fierce clashes among rival groups in the provinces of Idleb and Aleppo. Therefore, US arms will probably be used by these groups to fight against the other ones.

On the other hand, the Syrian opposition is a serious partner for no one as it is deeply divided and seriously weakened by internal disputes relating to money and personal power. Recently, the Syrian National Coalition was rocked by a wave of protest resignations from members of the so-called Supreme Military Council who protested against the “ineffectiveness of reforms” within the coalition. At least ten key coalition members announced their resignation, including the Syrian Revolutionary Front, Sham Legion and the Military Council in Raqqa. Nowadays, no serious analyst thinks that the SNC is a real alternative to rule the country. Its support among the Syrian population is null.

Of course, many experts in the US and other Western countries are fully aware of these realities. A report by the Rand Corporation published last September claimed that a nearly half of Obama´s Syrian “moderate rebels” were hard-core extremists whose ideology was indistinguishable from that of the ISIL or al-Nusra Front. The German government has also rejected the idea of handing over weapons to the “moderate rebels”.

The US Administration would have a more serious and effective choice if they were really interested in fighting the terrorism in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere: to cooperate with the Syrian Arab Army, which is only real effective force able to stop and destroy ISIL, al-Nusra Front and other terrorist organizations. However, the US has refused to do so. Washington does not want to collaborate with Syria because this country does not accept to submit itself to US control.

Despite all, Washington will have little choice, in the case of a prolonged air campaign, but to have some co-ordination with those fighting ISIL on the ground: the Syrian army, Hezbollah and the Syrian Kurds. Otherwise the US would have to avoid attacking the terrorist group when it is fighting against any of these forces. Maybe Obama does not like this idea but he may find he has no other option.

Al – Manar News

R.S