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

Assad Abu Khalil — Just as they cover up for Syrian rebels, Western media are covering up the statement by Turkish gunman

The propaganda war to control the narrative in the Western media continues.

All Western media that I looked are for some obvious reasons conveniently deleting the rest of the statement by the gunman in which he says: "We have pledged Jihad for Muhammad". Why is that not mentioned here: "“Allah Akbar! Do not forget Aleppo!” said the gunman, according to the widely circulated video. “Do not forget Syria! Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria! As long as our lands are not safe, you will not be safe!" In fact, the Jihad vow is the headline for all the stories about the assassinations in the accounts of Syrian rebels and their supporters (in Arabic only of course) and even in the Huffington Post--the Jihadi Qatari Arabic version.

Chance omission in the Wester media that can be spun as anti-Assad instead of jihadist? Not likely.

Angry Arab News Service
Just as they cover up for Syrian rebels, Western media are covering up the statement by Turkish gunman
Assad Abu Khalil | Professor of Political Science, California State University, Stanislaus

Also

"'Don't forget Aleppo' - Russian ambassador's killer". They almost are implying that he was noble in his deed. Can you imagine such headlines for the killers of US ambassador in Libya? CNN had the exact same headline, as did other Western sites and papers.

Look how ALL Western media are romanticizing the Turkish gunman and ignoring his Jihad message

Patrick Henningsen — New Obama Executive Order Opens Door for Unlimited Arms to Islamist Terrorists in Syria

Obama loses it, does stupid shit.

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama issued a White House memorandum (see full text below) to both the US State and Defense departments which waives any arms export control restrictions on providing ‘military assistance’ to any and all ‘foreign forces’ in Syria, according to a White House press release issued today. Presumably, this includes not only guns and ammuniation, but also lethal TOW Missiles and RPGs (and anti-aircraft units?) for tens of thousands of extremist foreign fighters and salafi terrorists currently operating inside Syria, as well as thousands of US-trained and equipped fighters waiting in camp in both Turkey and Jordan.

This desperate move by Obama can only mean two things. Firstly, it demonstrates that the US and its allies are doggedly determined to prolong one the bloodiest and dirtiest wars in recent history. Secondly, it signals a last-ditch act of desperation on the part of a President who will be viewed as a perennial loser in a failed proxy war that lasted over 5 years, costing tens of billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives.

21st Century Wire
BREAKING: New Obama Executive Order Opens Door for Unlimited Arms to Islamist Terrorists in Syria
Patrick Henningsen

Assad Abu Khalil — Moderate rebels trained by U.S. Green Berets turn out to be Jihadists

"For months now, SOFREP has been writing a series of articles about how badly things are going for the Special Forces soldiers assigned to covert and clandestine programs in Syria, Turkey, and Jordan." "However, the Green Berets assigned to this mission are outraged for another reason: many of the “moderate” rebels they are charged with training are actually ISIS and al-Nusra collaborators." "However, the article also glosses over the complaints that Green Berets have made about the Timber Sycamore program in which “moderate” rebels actually turn out to be Jihadists." When confronted with this story, Liz Sly of the Washington Post commented: but those are liberal and secular Jihadis, no?

Liz Sly doesn't realize that "liberal and secular Jihadis" is an oxymoron. She and the Washington Post show the depths of ignorance in which the US mainstream is mired. It would be laughable if it were not so serious.

At the beginning of the Iraq War, the Bushies didn't understand the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam. Same with the canard that Iran is the major exporter of terrorism when the jihadis of all stripes are funded and supported by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which are Wahhabi and Salafi states. These are Sunni factions rather than Shia. They are enemies of Iran, as is Saudi Arabia, and Qatar and Israel, who are allied against Iran and using jihadis as proxies in conjunction with the US, UK and EU.

Angry Arab News Service
Moderate rebels trained by U.S. Green Berets turn out to be Jihadists
Assad Abu Khalil | Professor of Political Science, California State University, Stanislaus

Alex Christoforou — Did the US-led coalition give the EXACT coordinates of Russian Aleppo hospital to Al-Qaeda for a missile attack?

This becoming a very familiar pattern. Every time Lavrov and Kerry appear to be making some sort of progress on ending hostilities in Syria, an unwarranted, and oddly timed attack on forces sided with the Syrian government occur.

The Duran
Did the US-led coalition give the EXACT coordinates of Russian Aleppo hospital to Al-Qaeda for a missile attack?
Alex Christoforou

also

Video with subtitles.

The Vineyard of the Saker
A not so subtle threat from the Russian military (the “allies” better pay attention)
The Saker

Robert Parry — The De Facto US/Al Qaeda Alliance

Buried deep inside Saturday’s New York Times was a grudging acknowledgement that the U.S.-armed “moderate” rebels in Syria are using their U.S. firepower to back an Al Qaeda offensive, reports Robert Parry.

Consortium News
The De Facto US/Al Qaeda Alliance

Robert Parry

Robert Parry — UN Team Heard Claims of ‘Staged’ Chemical Attacks

United Nations investigators encountered evidence that alleged chemical weapons attacks by the Syrian military were staged by jihadist rebels and their supporters, but still decided to blame the government for two incidents in which chlorine was allegedly dispersed via improvised explosives dropped by helicopters.
In both cases, the Syrian government denied that it had any aircraft in the areas at the times of the purported attacks, but the U.N. team rejected that explanation with the curious argument that Syria failed to provide flight records to corroborate the absence of any flights. Yet, if there had been no flights, there would be no flight records.

The controversial map developed by Human Rights Watch and embraced by the New York Times, supposedly showing the flight paths of two missiles from the Aug. 21, 2013 sarin attack intersecting at a Syrian military base. The analysis was later discredited when aeronautical experts found that the one missile carrying sarin had only one-fourth the necessary range.

The U.N. team also dismissed out of hand the possibility that jihadist rebels who had overrun some air bases and thus had operational helicopters at their disposal might have used them as part of a staged event designed to incriminate the Damascus regime and thus justify U.S. or other outside military intervention.

Another problem with the U.N. team’s findings is that the home-made chlorine bombs had minimal military value, inflicting relatively few casualties and only a handful of deaths.

Why the Syrian government, which was under intense international pressure regarding alleged chemical weapons use and was in the process of surrendering its stockpile of such weapons, would have jerry-rigged a handful of homemade bombs and dropped them for no discernible military effect makes little sense.

However, since Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been thoroughly demonized over his harsh reaction to an uprising that began in 2011, pretty much any accusation against him – no matter how unlikely or implausible – is widely accepted in the mainstream Western media and political circles. In other words, the U.N. team was under pressure to reach a guilty verdict.…

The Big Lie continues.

Consortium News
UN Team Heard Claims of ‘Staged’ Chemical Attacks
Robert Parry

Moon of Alabama — Aleppo (Again) Turns Into Focal Point Of The War On Syria

The whole attack on Aleppo was planned since at least April. U.S. Secretary of State Kerry prevented Russian reactions against the preparations and build up by holding out a possible cessation of hostilities and a political solution of the conflict. At the same time the U.S. and its allies delivered new weapons and equipment to al-Qaeda in Syria and its aligned forces. Videos from the Jihadi front lines show every fighter in well kept uniforms and armored vests with plenty of weapons and ammunition available.

The current attack on Aleppo is only one part of a larger U.S. plan to bring Syria (as well as Russia and Iran) to its knees. We do not yet know all the plan's phases, parameters and aims. We also do not know the responses the other side has prepared to counter them. All observers (including me) should keep that in mind when judging the day-to-day changes of the situation.

The main message here is that the US betrayed Russian trust in the recent negotiations, by rearming its jihadi allies and then launching a pre-planned attack when Russia rejected an American offer for US-Russian cooperation but under US command.

I would say that this is the final straw that ends Russian attempts to deal with the US in good faith. Chief Ayatollah of Iran came t the same conclusion. It the same conclusion that the Native Americans came to:  "The Great White Father in Washington speaks with forked tongue."

However the battle of Aleppo turns out, it looks to me like US-Russian relations are permanently soured and now it will be a struggle until one side gains victory in the global struggle with the US pressing to extend global hegemony and the multi-polarists resisting it.

It is clear that no matter what is said or done, the US will not settle for anything less than the removal of Assad and that his is a part of an offensive against Iran and Russia, and China, too. Russia and China are preparing for attack by the US and the US is preparing a three-front offensive against Russia and China from the east, west and south.

One could argue that this would change if Trump wins the elections. But I doubt very much that Russia believes that one man would be able to sway a deep state with a fixed purpose that extends from Truman to the present.

Moon of Alabama
Aleppo (Again) Turns Into Focal Point Of The War On Syria

See also

Strategic Culture Foundation
Jabhat Al-Nusra's Rebranding Is More Than a Simple Name Change

Al-Monitor

Also

I rarely if ever watch US TV news (or any other TV news for that matter). I find that print news saves to time as there are no distractions of visuals. So I saw a report by Richard Engel about Aleppo: the report could have easily been signed with the disclaimer: this report was brought to you by ISIS and Al-Qa`idah in Syria. Unbelievable cheerleading for Jihadi groups. Worse: he even aired most footage from Al-Qa`idah: was there not an American law against promoting the propaganda of Al-Qa`idah or has the US government forgiven the terrorists of Sep. 11? I really believe that the Obama administration has relaxed US laws against Al-Qa`idah to use their services in the Syria war. Worse: Engel aired footage of Jihadis helping civilians cross the street. I kid you not. This is what passes as news in the US these days?

The Angry Arab News Service

Richard Engels on NBC News

Assad AbuKhalil | professor of political science at California State University

I have never seen such cheerleading for terrorism as I have been seeing from DC think tanks as of late--brought to you by oil and gas money

Eric Zuesse — US Gov’t Refused US Entry to Jihadist It Employs for Overthrowing Assad

Moar for the snake pit.

On April 19th, the US State Department had blocked entrance into the United States by Raed Saleh, the head of the White Helmets, and refused to say why. Saleh had been invited to receive in NYC an award by USAID and NGOs that the US government finances, but he was barred at the airport, apparently because the FBI had placed him onto its no-fly list as a known terrorist.

The White Helmets claim to receive no funds from any government, but the four-minute video shows a State Department official admitting «we supply through USAID about twenty-three million dollars in assistance to them» (which might be annually, but that question wasn’t addressed in the video). The White Helmets’ founder, James Le Mesurier, is himself funded by the governments of the UK, Japan, Denmark and the Netherlands, all of which are likewise trying to overthrow Assad.

Thus, US and other Western taxpayers are funding this allegedly ‘non-partisan’ and ‘humanitarian’ but actually jihadist, organization, whose leader was, on April 19th, prevented from receiving in the US, a ‘humanitarian’ award, for processing corpses that Nusra – which the US government also supports – is producing. The White Helmets also rescue jihadists (and their inevitable civilian hostages), who have been injured by Syrian government forces. That’s their ‘humanitarian’ work. This video shows jihadists cheering White Helmets.…

So, this is the reason why the U.S. government refuses entry to a terrorist it hires to create hell for the people in Syria: it doesn’t want individuals such as Raed Saleh inside the United States. America’s leaders know that, if something like this happens, and if word of it becomes well known, the American public could become even less supportive of their leaders than they already are. It’s not what America’s aristocracy want. They might not care about the American public, but they care very much about staying in power, regardless whether under the “Democratic” or under the “Republican” label.…

Strategic Culture Foundation
US Gov’t Refused US Entry to Jihadist It Employs for Overthrowing Assad

Eric Zuesse