Syria militants in US seeking CIA dollars to ‘confront Iran’s influence’
Syria militant leaders are in the United States demanding American dollars to fund an allegedly defunct CIA program to “confront Iran’s influence.”
Representatives of the so-called Free Syrian Army are reportedly pressing Americans to revive the program that provides military aid to the militants fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
In July, US President Donald Trump reportedly ended the clandestine program, to provide arms and supplies to the militant groups, who attempt to destabilize the situation Syria.
Trump tacitly confirmed the existence of the program later when he blamed the Washington Post for fabricating “the facts on my ending massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad.”
The Amazon Washington Post fabricated the facts on my ending massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017
Mustafa Sejari, a senior official in Syria’s mainstream militant group, has now told Reuters, that they are seeking the revival of the program that was launched under former President Barack Obama, yet was never publicly acknowledged.
Anti-Assad militants ‘dried up, weakened’
According to the Monday report, Sejari (pictured above) said that Iranians are “expanding without serious resistance,” and; therefore, “It is time to turn words into action.”
Both Iran and Russia are supporting the Syrian government in the fight against terrorism. Iran has been providing military advisory support for the Syrian forces at the request of Damascus.
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Sejari asserted that since the American president ended the program to support what he described as “moderate” militants, they have “dried up and are weakened.”
“With every US statement about the need to confront Iran’s influence, Iran has been expanding in Syria while moderate forces that are backed by Washington see aid being dried up and are weakened,” he said. “We asked for the resumption of aid and explained the dangers of leaving moderate FSA forces without support.”
The FSA delegation included recipients of the CIA program, which provided weapons, cash and trainers for the militants via Jordan and Turkey.
Syria has been gripped by a deadly conflict since March 2011. The government blames certain foreign countries for the spread of the devastating militancy in the country.
Over the past few months, Syrian forces have made sweeping gains against Takfiri elements, whose main core was initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in order to fight against the Syrian government.
America’s regional allies, particularly Saudi Arabia, and Israel, are often accused of sponsoring them.
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