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Published on 24 Dec 2016
The
US has been involved in diplomatic efforts to get the warring sides of
Syria’s conflict together for political talks. But its role in the
Syrian war was not only focused on diplomacy. In 2013, it was reported
that the US President Obama’s administration was arming the rebels. Al
Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi reports from Washington DC. Even though the US
maintained its position that it wasn’t getting involved in the Syrian
conflict, from 2011 onwards reports periodically appeared announcing the
deployment of more US trainers and advisers to aid those opposing
Bashar Al-Assad. In 2013 it was reported that the Obama administration
was arming the rebels. But then, in 2015 Congress decided to cut funding
for the CIA’s operations in Syria. Only then did it emerge that Syria
was one of the Agency’s largest covert operations with a budget
approaching one billion dollars a year; of every $15 in the CIA’s
overall budget, $1 was going to Syria. Contrary to the prevailing
narrative that even now dominates discussion, the US has not been
sitting on the sidelines. They were running Libyan guns and arms from
Benghazi etc [approx.] But the Pentagon did not support the operation as
evidence emerged that the weapons were being supplied to the US’s
enemies. The Pentagon loves it when the CIA fails, they felt the CIA did
not know what they were doing.. Q: They wanted to be in IraQ Yes, their
priority is Mosul As for how things stand now, the Obama administration
will not release a breakdown of its operations in Syria against Assad.
All we know is that the CIA and Special Operations Forces are on the
ground - without public debate or congressional authorization. We do
know that some 500 troops are in Syria as part of Operation Inherent
Resolve - the Pentagon campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and
then Syria. But these numbers don’t account for temporary deployments.
US commanders can quietly deploy hundreds of special forces into Syria
without any notice by classing them as temporary. Soon a new
administration will take over. In the past Donald Trump has seemed
reluctant to get involved in the civil war. However recently Trump said
he would provide “safe zones” in Syria using money from Gulf States.
It’s not clear yet what exactly that means…. but the president-elect has
been clear about his aims: "I would bomb the hell out of ISIS (the
Islamic State group), "It would be so great if we could get Russia on
our side and other countries on our side and knock the hell out of ISIS
(Islamic State group) right (crowd cheers), right, so stupid - just
knock the living hell out of them." And if Trump does now closely
co-ordinate with Russia, he will be attempting a strategy that President
Obama attempted and failed to do amid strong opposition from the
Pentagon. SR, AJ, Washington -
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