CIA Freezes Arms, Cash Transfers To Syrian Rebels
February 21, 2017
Several rebel officials said they believed the main objective of the freeze was to prevent arms and cash falling into militant hands.
A well-equipped Syrian rebel using a US-made BGM-71 TOW on the Syrian Arab Army. (Photo YouTube Screenshot)
(REPORT) — CIA-coordinated military aid for rebels in northwest Syria has been frozen since they came under major attack from hardline militants last month, rebel sources said, raising doubts about foreign support key to their war against President Bashar al-Assad.
Last month’s militant assault on the FSA groups was launched by Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, a group formerly known as the Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s official affiliate in the war until last year when it formally cut ties and renamed itself.
The militant onslaught led several FSA groups to merge with the powerful Islamist faction Ahrar al-Sham, widely believed to be backed by Assad’s foreign adversaries in the region.
That will likely give pause to foreign donors: Ahrar al-Sham is set apart from the FSA factions by a strongly Sunni Islamist ideology and it has previously fought alongside the Nusra Front.
Rebel officials said that no official explanation had been given for the move this month following the Fateh al-Sham assault, though several said they believed the main objective was to prevent arms and cash falling into militant hands. But they said they expected the aid freeze to be temporary.
The halt in assistance, which has included salaries, training, ammunition and in some cases guided anti-tank missiles, is a response to the Fateh al-Sham attacks and has nothing to do with US President Donald Trump replacing Barack Obama in January, two US officials familiar with the CIA-led programme told Reuters.
The freeze reflects the troubles facing Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels in the almost six-year-old revolt against Assad, who now appears militarily unassailable in his core western region largely thanks to direct intervention on his side by Russia and Iran.
