Moon of Alabama — Syria - Inconsistent, Incomplete And Implausible - The OPCW Report On Saraqib Is Another Disgrace

Another false flag? Fits the pattern.

Moon of Alabama
Syria - Inconsistent, Incomplete And Implausible - The OPCW Report On Saraqib Is Another Disgrace

WSJ Report — Israel treating al-Qaida fighters wounded in Syria civil war

Israel has opened its borders with Syria in order to provide medical treatment to Nusra Front and al-Qaida fighters wounded in the ongoing civil war, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The prominent American newspaper reported that Nusra Front, the Sunni Muslim al-Qaida offshoot which is currently fighting the Iranian-backed axis of Bashar Assad and Hezbollah, “hasn’t bothered Israel since seizing the border area last summer” along the Golan Heights.

When you lose the WSJ.…

Defend Democracy Press
Report: Israel treating al-Qaida fighters wounded in Syria civil war

See also from DDP

Backgrounder

Who Is the Real Culprit Behind the Chemical Attacks in Syria? A Brief History

Muhammad Sahimi

Also

Lavrov: Swiss lab says ‘BZ toxin’ used in Salisbury, not produced in Russia, was in US & UK service

Also

Russia modifies its policy towards Israel, provoking havoc for Neocon strategic planning

See also

HAARETZ
Analysis — Putin May Limit Israel's Operations in Syria in Retaliation for U.S.-led Strikes

Zvi Bar'el

Zero Hedge In Shocking, Viral Interview, Qatar Confesses Secrets Behind Syrian War

A television interview of a top Qatari official confessing the truth behind the origins of the war in Syria is going viral across Arabic social media during the same week a leaked top secret NSA document was published which confirms that the armed opposition in Syria was under the direct command of foreign governments from the early years of the conflict.

And according to a well-known Syria analyst and economic adviser with close contacts in the Syrian government, the explosive interview constitutes a high level "public admission to collusion and coordination between four countries to destabilize an independent state, [including] possible support for Nusra/al-Qaeda." Importantly, "this admission will help build case for what Damascus sees as an attack on its security & sovereignty. It will form basis for compensation claims."

As the war in Syria continues slowly winding down, it seems new source material comes out on an almost a weekly basis in the form of testimonials of top officials involved in destabilizing Syria, and even occasional leaked emails and documents which further detail covert regime change operations against the Assad government. Though much of this content serves to confirm what has already long been known by those who have never accepted the simplistic propaganda which has dominated mainstream media, details continue to fall in place, providing future historians with a clearer picture of the true nature of the war.

This process of clarity has been aided - as predicted - by the continued infighting among Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) former allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with each side accusing the other of funding Islamic State and al-Qaeda terrorists (ironically, both true). Increasingly, the world watches as more dirty laundry is aired and the GCC implodes after years of nearly all the gulf monarchies funding jihadist movements in places like Syria, Iraq, and Libya....

"Shocking" refers to the admission rather than the events, which were widely suspected, with some evidence already available.

Now that the war seems to be winding down, the question of who is going to pay to rebuild Syria arises. Syria will be seeking compensation.

Zero Hedge

In Shocking, Viral Interview, Qatar Confesses Secrets Behind Syrian War
Tyler Durden

Moon of Alabama — Syria Summary - Towards The End Of The Caliphate

What is left of ISIS, probably some 10,000 fighters in total, is now confined to east Syria and west Iraq. No more replenishment is coming forward. No new fighters are willing to join the losing project. Its resources are dwindling by the day. The U.S. is extracting its assets within the organization. The Euphrates valley west and east of Deir Ezzor will become the last defensible territory it holds. Six month from now it will be defeated. Its Caliphate will be gone.

The other Jihadi project in Syria is run under the various names of al-Qaeda in Syria. It is now mainly confined to Idleb province. The estimated strength is some 9,000 fighters with some 12,000 auxiliary forces of local "rebels". Like ISIS, al-Qaeda in Syria is now isolated and no one is willing to come to its help. Its local helpers will give up and reconcile as soon as the Syrian army will move in on them. The hard-core militants will be killed.

The U.S. has told its proxy "rebels" to give up on their political project. Jordan is sending peace signals towards Damascus. The Syrian President Assad will not be removed and the country will stay under the protection of Russia and Iran. The U.S. still supports the Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria's north-east. But its relation with its NATO member Turkey will always be more important than any national Kurdish project. In the end the Kurds, like others, will have to accept the condition Damascus will set for them.

Moon of Alabama
Syria Summary - Towards The End Of The Caliphate
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Gareth Porter — How CIA and Allies Trapped Obama in the Syrian Arms Debacle

The title is a bit misleading. The buck stops at the Oval Office, and then President was too weak to be able to resist pressure and act in the best interests of the United States, not to mention in accordance with international law. The devil made me do it excuse don't pass the smell test. The blame rests on the president, and he should be tarred with it.

However, this backgrounder does illustrate the power of the US deep state in running US foreign and military policy, regardless of the president's lead. This reads like court intrigue in the age of monarchies.

The American Conservative
How CIA and Allies Trapped Obama in the Syrian Arms Debacle

And why it ultimately benefitted terrorists like Al Qaeda

Gareth Porter

Pepe Escobar — A coup in the House of Saud?

Gives "MBS" new meaning. It's no longer mortgage backed security but Mohammad bin Salman.

But just as MBS were involved in the global financial crisis that began with the housing bubble in the US; so too, Mohammad in Salman is poised to initiate a global political crisis. Pepe Escobar explains.

Asia Times
A coup in the House of Saud?

Pepe Escobar

Nauman Sadiq — The US takes Rebranded Al-Nusra Front off Terror Watch-lists

Shell games in the snake pit.

According to a recent report by CBC Canada, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, which was formerly known as al-Nusra Front and then Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) since July 2016, has been removed from the terror watch-lists of the US and Canada after it merged with fighters from Zenki Brigade and hardline jihadists from Ahrar al-Sham and rebranded itself as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in January this year.… 

Thus, this rebranding exercise has been going on for quite some time. Al-Julani announced the split from al-Qaeda in a video statement last year. But the persistent efforts of al-Julani’s Gulf-based patrons have borne fruit only in January this year, when al-Nusra Front once again rebranded itself from Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which also includes “moderate” jihadists from Zenki Brigade, Ahrar al-Sham and several other militant groups, and thus, the US State Department has finally given a clean chit to the jihadist conglomerate that goes by the name of Tahrir al-Sham to pursue its ambitions of toppling the Assad regime in Syria.

Oriental review
The US takes Rebranded Al-Nusra Front off Terror Watch-lists
Nauman Sadiq

Pat Lang — The Saudi and UAE "crownies" are AQ supporters ...

Qatar strikes back.

Sic Semper Tyrannis
The Saudi and UAE "crownies" are AQ supporters ...
Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.), former military intelligence officer at the US Defense Intelligence Agency

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton — CNN Hired Top al-Qaeda Propagandist for Award-Winning Syria Documentary and Wants to Cover Its Tracks

Star CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward worked with al-Qaeda “media man” Bilal Abdul Kareem to gain access to her “heroes on the ground.”

Hey, if the CIA and US military can work with AQ, why not the media?

AlterNet
CNN Hired Top al-Qaeda Propagandist for Award-Winning Syria Documentary and Wants to Cover Its Tracks
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton

See also

Yet Another Video Shows U.S.-Funded White Helmets Assisting Public Executions in Rebel-Held Syria

Moon of Alabama — Israel's Fire Support For Its Al-Qaeda Mercenaries Started Three Years Ago

Al-Qaeda attacked a Syrian Arab Army position in Madinat al-Baath (map) next to the Israel occupied Golan heights. Al-Qaeda requested Israeli fire-support by launching some mortars towards empty space in the Israel occupied area. The Israeli Defense Force accepted the request and destroyed two Syrian Arab Army tanks. Two Syrian soldiers were killed. The SAA held steady and the al-Qaeda attack on its position failed.
This was very easy to predict. Israel has supported al-Qaeda in the area since at least 2014. The al-Qaeda fire-request-by-mortar scheme has been in place for at least three years. In October 2014 the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which back then still covered the area, reported to the UN Security Council:

On 23 June [2014], Israel targeted nine Syrian army positions with tank fire and air strikes after mortar fire from the Syrian side the previous day killed an Israeli civilian. Israel’s assessment is that most of these incidents are due to errant fire resulting from fighting in Syria. Israel said that armed opposition groups were probably responsiblebut that its forces fired on Syrian military positions to stress that Syria was responsible for security on its side of the ceasefire line.

The UN observers mentioned the "black flags" the "rebels" were using. The "rebels" in that area are al-Qaeda forces. This "fire support request by mortar" scheme has been repeated again and again. The Israeli argument is an insult to logic: "The Syrian army is responsible for keeping al-Qaeda out of the area so we respond to "errant" al-Qaeda fire by destroying the Syrian army."

But "western" and Israeli media did and do not report or analyzed the obvious scheme. This even as this theater act gets repeated over and over again. They lie and simply report the "errant fire" nonsense even when it is clear that this is coordinated military support for al-Qaeda. For years they have hidden Israeli support for al-Qaeda and its deep involvement in the Syrian war. Witness Haaretz which only today(!) headlines: Analysis - Israel’s Slow Creep Into the Syrian Civil War. That "slow creep", which Haaretz describes and analyzes as a new phenomenon, started at least three years ago and was neither slow nor a creep. It is full fledged support for terrorism and has been such since its beginning....

Moon of Alabama
Israel's Fire Support For Its Al-Qaeda Mercenaries Started Three Years Ago
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See also

SouthFront
Isreali Air Force Strikes Syrian Army Artillery Pieces And Battle Tanks In Quneitra Province

ikb22

Ricky Twisdale — BOMBSHELL: Trump told Saudis to stop funding terror

Game-changer?

The real purpose of my being there, was to make sure these countries do not fund terror any longer.….

Earlier in his address, Trump had strongly reiterated his campaign rhetoric decrying the havoc caused by decades of US military intervention:

Our country has spent $6 trillion in the middle east – wasted. And the lives, the lives…thousands and thousands and thousands of lives. We started 16 years ago, and it’s in far worse shape than it was 16 years ago. So we spent all of this money, all of these lives…and let me tell you, I came in and took over a very, very difficult hand. But we’re going to get it fixed – that’s what you put me here for.

Needless to say, Trump’s rhetoric is at odds with Pentagon policy, which seems to have changed little since the turnover in administrations. There is clearly a discrepency between the US president’s views and the deep state’s demands....

The Duran
BOMBSHELL: Trump told Saudis to stop funding terror
Ricky Twisdale

Gareth Porter — How America Armed Terrorists in Syria

Another tale of infamy involving the usual suspects.

What Porter does not mention is that this was largely covered up domestically by US media propaganda demonizing Assad personally.

The American Conservative
How America Armed Terrorists in Syria

Gareth Porter

Reposted at Consortium News

Paul Robinson — Strategy-free time

The strategy-free wars the US is fighting.

If you’re a conspiracy theorist, you could say that this is all part of a cunning plan to spread chaos. This, however, ignores the fact that the costs in both blood and treasure are enormous and far outweigh any benefits the USA might theoretically derive from such chaos. It’s also pretty obvious that people like Mattis really want to win all these wars.

Their problem is that they’ve got themselves deep into situations they don’t understand and can’t control, but they can’t extricate themselves without looking bad. So, they just keep digging themselves in deeper and spreading the list of enemies in the hope that they can find a solution by going in a different direction.

As I’ve mentioned before, the first principle of war is selection and maintenance of the aim. If Mattis wants a strategy, he needs to select and maintain a single, clear objective. So far, the United States hasn’t....

There are also political constraints. The American public is tired of foreign adventurism with no lasting results, so now US politicians are reluctant to write the generals a blank check without an exit strategy.

Both war on terror, the war on drugs and the war on poverty have failed because it is impossible to make war on a concept. Such wars end up being strategy-free and with no exit strategy, endless.

Irrussianality
Strategy-free time
Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

Moon of Alabama — "The GCC States Led By Saudi Arabia Will Collapse Into Oblivion"

Backgrounder on goings-on in the snake pit.

Moon of Alabama
"The GCC States Led By Saudi Arabia Will Collapse Into Oblivion"

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See also

Asia Times
Qatar’s US$1 billion deal with Iran that broke the camel’s back

Asia Unhedged

Moon of Alabama — France Prepares Pro-AlQaeda Intervention In Syria

Terrorists in France, bad. Terrorists in Syria, good.

Some people never learn apparently.

Moon of Alabama
France Prepares Pro-AlQaeda Intervention In Syria

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See also

Read the comments, too.

Sic Semper Tyrannis
US MEDIA'S FAVORITE JIHADIST

Decameron

Steven Chovanec — Trump Escalates Syrian Proxy War

US neocons and deep state are back. Al Qaeda an ally.

Back in February, it was quietly reported that the CIA had discontinued its support program to rebels in Syria. A month later, a knowledgeable source from the region disclosed to me that the Trump administration and the Saudi defense minister, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had agreed during their meetings in mid-March for the Gulf states to re-open supply channels to their rebel proxies.…

The parallel measures by the U.S. and Russia signify a race between the two major powers to capture as much territory as possible from the Islamic State before the other side is able to do so.

Under the guise of “defeating ISIS,” both powers are essentially carving out their own spheres of influence throughout the country, dividing it between U.S.- and Russian-backed regions, leading to an inevitable showdown between the two sides over the fate of the country and its territorial integrity.…

As the CIA reopens its rebel supply lines, it’s important to note that the entire opposition is dominated by al-Qaeda and other radical Islamists. While pro-regime-changers in the U.S. have repeatedly blame the rise of ISIS on the U.S. not sufficiently sponsoring the “moderate” rebels, in reality the program of supporting the moderates was the major factor that empowered the jihadists. The so-called “moderates” were never separate from the extremists, and often were only called “moderate” to justify U.S.-support.

Despite knowing its support was empowering extremists, the U.S. continued to do so, realizing that it was necessary in order for the goal of overthrowing the Syrian government to have any realistic chance of success. This created the situation today where the opposition is dominated by al-Qaeda and filled with sectarian extremists.

Today in Idlib, where the FSA is being supported by the CIA, al-Qaeda and its coalition completely dominate the rebel forces. Rebels routinely pass at least half of their U.S.-supplied weapons to Nusra while the U.S.-approved “moderates” only operate under license from al-Qaeda....

Consortium News
Trump Escalates Syrian Proxy War

Steven Chovanec

Also

To support freedom and democracy, you see.

Independent
Donald Trump to announce $350bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia – one of the largest in history

Just what the snake pit needs.

Think Progress
Trump to unveil plans for an 'Arab NATO' in Saudi Arabia

Thomas Joscelyn — Hamza bin Laden offers ‘advice for martyrdom seekers in the West’

Blowback aka payback and revenge.

FDD's Long War Journal
Hamza bin Laden offers ‘advice for martyrdom seekers in the West’
Thomas Joscelyn

Moon of Alabama — Moon of Alabama The End Of Mingling - "Moderate Rebels" Join Al-Qaeda In SyriaThe End Of Mingling - "Moderate Rebels" Join Al-Qaeda In Syria

Syria update.

Moon of Alabama
The End Of Mingling - "Moderate Rebels" Join Al-Qaeda In Syria

Vanessa Beeley — Syria: «There are No Moderates», Tulsi Gabbard’s Reports from Syria

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has recently returned from an “under-wraps” fact finding mission to Syria where she met with Syrian people across a wide spectrum of Syrian society, including those recently liberated from Nusra Front-led terrorist occupation in East Aleppo. What she found, confirmed that the corporate media, NATO-aligned NGOs and the US interventionist coalition have been misrepresenting the facts on the ground in Syria for the last six years, funding terrorism and fanfaring an illegal regime-change programme....

Strategic Culture Foundation
Syria: «There are No Moderates», Tulsi Gabbard’s Reports from Syria
Vanessa Beeley

Matthew Allen — The Blame Game Begins: Obama Administration Says Syrian Rebels Encouraged US to 'Work with' Al Qaeda

Smell that? Yes, that's the magnificent aroma of Washington trying to cover its ass now that its brilliant strategy of "arming human scum and shipping them into Syria by the Toyota-load" has failed miserably.

Here is Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes talking about the horrible moral dilemma Washington faced while arming random (but "moderate"!) weirdos in Syria:

What’s strange is, I met with the Syrian opposition, and often they would argue that we should work with al-Nusra, who we know is Al Qaeda. And I’m sympathetic if you’re in a neighborhood where al-Nusra is defending you against Assad. You want us to work with them. But let’s say a U.S. president does that, and then al-Nusra is using weapons that we gave them against us. That’s something you never recover from, right?

"We didn't want to directly/indirectly aid al-Nusra — and even if we sometimes did, by accident, the 'moderate' rebels made us do it!"

We remember employing a similar line of argument ... in first grade....

"The devil made me do it."

Washington's grand vision for Syria (a failed state that can be used to destabilize Iran and train psychos to send eastward, with their final destination being Russia) has failed. And the ass-covering begins....

Arming terrorists is state sponsorship of terrorism.

The Bush administration will be remembered for officially sanctioning torture and rendition. The Obama administration will be remember for arming terrorists of the same organization that attacked the US on 9/11.

Russia Insider
The Blame Game Begins: Obama Administration Says Syrian Rebels Encouraged US to 'Work with' Al Qaeda

Matthew Allen

Also

Politico
What Worries Ben Rhodes About Trump

Michael Crowley