That’s the Telegraph subhead on this piece: “Rebels warn that Russian air strikes risk pushing moderates into arms of more powerful extremist groups.”
How many times over the years have we heard this — that too strong action against Islamic jihadists would drive “moderates” into the arms of “extremists”? And suddenly there are “moderates” among the Syrian rebels? Yet former Defense Intelligence Agency director Michael Flynn recently confirmed that the Obama Administration knowingly decided to support al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, and directly enabled the rise of the Islamic State. They did this while proclaiming to the world that they were training and arming “vetted moderates.” Now the Telegraph would have us believe that Syria has been positively crawling with “moderates,” although somehow Obama’s vetting team didn’t notice, and had to opt for supporting al-Qaeda instead.
In reality, the rebels are not by any stretch of the imagination “moderates”: they’re pro-Sharia Islamic jihad terrorists. Remember, the Obama Administration spent $500 million to find and train “moderates” in Syria, and could only come up with fifty trainees. And now we hear from the wretched dhimmi Telegraph that the “moderates” in Syria are becoming “extremist” because of the big bad Russians. Yeah, sure.
“Al-Qaeda fighters evoke Afghan jihad as they promise to turn Syria into graveyard for Russian invaders,” by Louisa Loveluck, Telegraph, October 3, 2015:
Russia’s decision to wade into Syria’s messy war risks pushing more militants into the arms of the country’s powerful al-Qaeda group, according to rebels.
Jabhat al-Nusra, a Syrian al-Qaeda group that has survived through integration with the wider movement which took up arms against leader Bashar al-Assad in 2011, is now one of the most powerful players in Syria’s messy war.
Depicting Moscow’s military support for Mr Assad as tantamount to an invasion, Nusra and other rebel groups say they want to evoke the prolonged and unsuccessful Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a battle in which the modern day al-Qaeda has its roots.
In interviews with the Telegraph, rebels fighting with the Army of Conquest, the coalition fighting around the regime’s northwestern heartlands which includes Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, described anger among their ranks as Russia’s bombs targeted their positions and caused dozens of civilian deaths.
“They gave people no choice but to join the most powerful force to fight the Russian invasion,” said Abu Yassin al-Homsi, a member of the more moderate Ahrar al-Sham. “We have lost men to Nusra and I know others who want to go.”
One young man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the boost for Nusra as “inevitable”. “The whole world is watching as Syrians are fighting alone,” he said. “Can you blame my brothers for wanting to join a better group?”
In a video uploaded to the internet on Thursday, Abdullah Al-Muhaisini, a Nusra fighter, promised a similar outcome.
“Russia remains a country whose wings were cut off in the land of the Afghans,” he said. “Today it entered Syria, so Syria will become a graveyard for invaders.”…