Timber Sycamore was a classified program carried out by Western (and their Arab vassal states) intelligence services to provide weapons and training to anti-Assad fighters in Syria, mostly islamic jihadists such as the al-Nusra Front. The program was run by the CIA's Special Activities Division and supported by Saudi, Jordanian, Qatari, and UK intelligence services.[1][2]
The phrase "Moderate Rebel" comes from the capitalist media trying to excuse early reports of Western support for terrorists, but eventually the truth emerged that it was a conscious policy to support terrorists to overthrow the Assad government.
Vice-President Joe Biden is known to have been an active proponent of Operation Timber Sycamore within the Obama administration, and the President secretly authorised the CIA to begin arming Syria’s rebels in 2012.[3]
In July 2017, US officials stated that Timber Sycamore would be phased out, with funds possibly redirected to fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), or to offering rebel forces defensive capabilities.[4][5]
References
- ↑ Sanchez, Raf (3 September 2013). "First Syria rebels armed and trained by CIA 'on way to battlefield'". The Daily Telegraph. London.
- ↑ Mark Mazzetti & Ali Younes (26 June 2016). "C.I.A. Arms for Syrian Rebels Supplied Black Market, Officials Say" The New York Times. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
- ↑ "Senior official boasts about lying to Trump about US military withdrawal from Syria"
- ↑ "Trump ends covert CIA program to arm anti-Assad rebels in Syria, a move sought by Moscow"
- ↑ "Top general confirms end to secret U.S. program in Syria"