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US discussing training Free Syrian Army members with Turkey

Nov 15, 2014 11:46 am By Robert Spencer

Young members of the Free Syrian Army show off their weapons, araquib cityThe U.S. and Turkey are discussing Turkey’s training of 2,000 Free Syrian Army rebels — to fight the Islamic State.

In July 2013, Free Syrian Army fighters entered the Christian village of Oum Sharshouh and began burning down houses and terrorizing the population, forcing 250 Christian families to flee the area. Worthy News reported that just two days later, Free Syrian Army rebels “targeted the residents of al-Duwayr/Douar, a Christian village close to the city of Homs and near Syria’s border with Lebanon….Around 350 armed militants forcefully entered the homes of Christian families who were all rounded-up in the main square of the village and then summarily executed.” And in September 2013, a day after Secretary of State John Kerry praised the Free Syrian Army as “a real moderate opposition,” the FSA took to the Internet to post videos of its attack on the ancient Syrian Christian city of Maaloula, one of the few places where Aramaic, the language of Jesus, is still spoken.

“Some 2, 000 moderate Syrian rebels to be trained in Turkey,” AGI, November 15, 2014 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

(AGI) Ankara, Nov 15 – U.S. and Turkish army officials have agreed that the training of around 2,000 moderate Syrian rebels, including Free Syrian Army (FSA) members and Syrian Turkmen, will take place at the military training centre in Hirfanli, Turkey. Officials from both countries met for the third time at the general headquarters in Ankara to discuss Turkey’s proposal to equip and train the rebels. . .

Last month, General John Allen said that the U.S. was not working with these bloody jihadis, but his office immediately contradicted his statement.

“The US Confirms That It Is Not Coordinating With The Free Syrian Army,” by Michael B Kelley, Business Insider, October 16, 2014:

A key American official has confirmed that the US is ditching the nationalist rebels fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and building a new ground force to focus on fighting the Islamic State, Hannah Allam of McClatchy reports.

“At this point, there is not formal coordination” with the Free Syrian Army, John Allen, the retired Marine general in charge of coordinating the US-led campaign against the Islamic State (aka ISIS or ISIL), told reporters at the State Department.

General Allen’s office tells Business Insider that Allam’s report is inaccurate and that the U.S. is still working with parts of the FSA.

“General Allen met with a number of representatives from across the spectrum of the Syrian opposition including key military figures,” The statement said. “In all the meetings, General Allen was clear that the US was committed to building upon the existing military capacity of the vetted elements of the Free Syrian Army. He was also clear about the need for the political elements of the moderate Syrian opposition to become as coherent as possible as they will be essential to the long term political outcomes in Syria.”

On the other hand, FSA rebels were not invited to a recent meeting regarding the coalition against ISIS and the U.S. has backed off its demands that Assad must go.

“They are basically telling the FSA that they are not part of their plans and they are going to start from scratch,” Andrew Tabler, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told The Daily Beast….

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Filed Under: Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), Syria, Turkey


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Comments

  1. Jay Boo says

    Nov 15, 2014 at 12:28 pm

    In the photo they flash a peace sign at least until they lower one finger.

  2. Custos Custodum says

    Nov 15, 2014 at 12:32 pm

    “At this point, there is not formal coordination” with the Free Syrian Army, John Allen, the retired Marine general in charge of coordinating the US-led campaign against the Islamic State (aka ISIS or ISIL), told reporters at the State Department.

    Note the weird Clintonesque grammar: “At this point, there is not formal coordination.” Perhaps to his credit, Allen could not bring himself to outright lie on this point.

    We must face the fact that to our (still) commander in chief and his fellow activists, the massacres and rapes of Christians are not a bug, but a desirable feature.

    Read “Without Conscience” by Robert D. Hare for good insights into the mindset of psychopaths, many of whom are brilliant at projecting caring and concerned personalities.

  3. jewdog says

    Nov 15, 2014 at 2:27 pm

    This down-the-rabbit-hole operation recalls George Washington’s warning against foreign entanglements. The Turkish government is a covert IS supporter and that’s exactly what we’ll wind up with in Syria.

  4. albert says

    Nov 15, 2014 at 2:48 pm

    So Turkish police stand by, watching while US sailors are beat up by Islamic activists, then Obama is going to fund Turkish forces training so called FSA “allies”, then the Turkish forces will stand by while said “allies” kill US servicemen. Does anyone else think that maybe the Obama administration are being so stupid intentionally ?

    • albert says

      Nov 15, 2014 at 2:57 pm

      Re my post, why not give the Christian militia and of course the Kurds all the arms and air support they need, but of course that would upset the other “allies” namely the Turks ( notorious for their tactic of standing by and watching while ISIS slaughter Christians and Kurds )

  5. Judi says

    Nov 15, 2014 at 6:57 pm

    The world has gone mad!

    • terry says

      Nov 16, 2014 at 5:55 pm

      “Not with a bang, but a whimper.”

  6. londo says

    Nov 16, 2014 at 2:57 am

    I know we are not taking this conflict seriously because, if we did, the only thing we would be sending to Syria and Iraq is the big BLU-82 and friends. This what the allied forces did to Germany and Japan during WWII. Yes, some of the bombing raids we wish we wouldn’t have done. The bombing of Dresden for instance, but the point is that at the moment we feel safe. We can afford to target the enemy extremely selectively and he can hide behind the humanity that our sense of security will offer to him and that means that we are not into the war against terrorism yet. It is not a war. It is only an exercise at the moment.

  7. tpellow says

    Nov 16, 2014 at 5:33 am

    This sounds like Obama is trying to refine his Islamic jihad-supporting position.

  8. Roy says

    Nov 16, 2014 at 5:50 pm

    Albert & others: I do wish my fellow Obama critics would stop portraying this man and his fellow travelers as stupid or clueless. I truly wish he was just a bumbling fool but he knows precisely what he is doing. Does anyone really believe he doesn’t know that the free Syrian army is a joke, or that Iran is proceeding on schedule to develop nuclear weapons? Do you think he despises Israel due to a lack of understanding about the middle east? Please face reality here!

    • terry says

      Nov 16, 2014 at 5:57 pm

      The spirit of Anti-Christ. Devils are born in the pride of liars.

  9. David says

    Nov 16, 2014 at 8:15 pm

    “The U.S. and Turkey are discussing Turkey’s training of 2,000 Free Syrian Army rebels — to fight the Islamic State.” Oops! A typo…”The U.S. and Turkey are discussing Turkey’s training of 2,000 Free Syrian Army rebels — to fight FOR the Islamic State.”

  10. another David says

    Nov 16, 2014 at 11:10 pm

    Having Turks train “freedom fighters” for Syria is like sending your teenage son to a brothel to get a “good education”.

  11. S.SuchindranathAiyer says

    Nov 17, 2014 at 1:22 am

    The Third World War: The Syria-Turkey Front: The US is going to train more enemies of the Non-Moslem American people! Truly, the White Hice are the best friends (and most easily purchased with Petro Dollars) that Islam ever had! The stupidity of a World that never asks how it is that there were Yazidis, Christians Jews, and Kurds in Iraq and Syria for the Sunni-Arab allies of the US to finish off, if Saddam, Assad and the Baathists were as bad as Tweedle Bush, Tweedle Blair, their cronies and cohorts claim, never fails to amaze me!

  12. ZOOP ZONDEKI says

    Nov 17, 2014 at 4:46 am

    Getting the turks to train any anti jihad group is an open invitation to future “friendly fire”.

    OK

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