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UK to train “moderate” Syrian opposition forces to target the Islamic State

Dec 15, 2016 8:22 pm By Robert Spencer

Are we stuck in a time warp? For years it has been patently obvious that there are no “moderate” forces among the Syrian “opposition.” Even the New York Times acknowledged this, almost four years ago: “Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.” (New York Times, April 28, 2013) Nothing has changed since then.

No actual “moderates” are named here, and that may be because of the embarrassments of the past. Take the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army (please): “We have a Free Syrian Army and a moderate opposition that we have steadily been working with that we have vetted,” said Obama in September 2014. 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.

This UK misadventure will turn out no better.

“UK to train ‘moderate’ Syrian opposition forces to target IS,” by Arj Singh, The Scotsman, December 15, 2016:

British military personnel have arrived in the Middle East to train “moderate” Syrian opposition forces as they attempt to open up a second front around Islamic State (IS) stronghold Raqqa.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said the Syrian forces were being trained in infantry, medical and explosive hazard awareness skills.

He spoke ahead of a London summit with defence ministers from the coalition of countries fighting IS, also known as Daesh, in Iraq and Syria.

It comes after a ceasefire between Syrian rebels and the Russian-backed Bashar Assad regime in Aleppo broke down, threatening plans to evacuate civilians amid reports of pro-government troops executing non-combatants.

At the meeting, Sir Michael will reveal that he has agreed to “surge” the number of data recovery experts to exploit material obtained as IS forces are defeated or flee from Mosul in Iraq.

Britain’s top commander in the region, Major General Rupert Jones, said recently that plans revealing thousands of IS plots to attack Europe were discovered after the terrorists were driven out of Manbij, northern Syria.

Sir Michael hopes the extra experts will be able to exploit data and technical equipment seized from IS to help track UK militants, win the battle on the ground, better understand the militants’ structure and leadership, and build a case against fighters who have committed atrocities….

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Filed Under: Featured, Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), Moderate Muslims, United Kingdom Tagged With: Aleppo


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Comments

  1. Steve says

    Dec 15, 2016 at 8:34 pm

    This is so crazy that you could start believing that although the muslims openly say they want to take over the world, the political elite apear to be helping them to do just that in anyway they can and yet we do nothing except talk and debate the issue whilst the world is in danger from these barbarians.

    • A Harris USA says

      Dec 16, 2016 at 4:43 pm

      All I can say is Good Luck Limeies!!! Guess they have not learned, once you expect these two-timers to be faithful to OUR side, they turn the tables, and kill us!! This is why God make NUKES!!

  2. Baucent says

    Dec 15, 2016 at 8:35 pm

    “UK to train “moderate” Syrian opposition forces to target the Islamic State”

    Oh great move UK, what could possibly go wrong?

    • Bob says

      Dec 16, 2016 at 10:10 am

      The problem is thatnhere in the UK the politicos do appear to believe that “nothing could possibly go wrong”! In any case there’ll always be a convenient scapegoat!

    • Charles Martel says

      Dec 18, 2016 at 4:27 am

      Having them killing each other is MUCH better than having them looking for other people to kill! The USA and USSR both supplied Iran AND Iraq during their 10-year war for exactly that reason….. Pity it had to end….(yes, it really did slow them down….they were drafting teenagers to be soldiers at the end of it…)

  3. Buford says

    Dec 15, 2016 at 8:57 pm

    If they had any backbone they would have stayed there instead of invading Western Countries & creating Havoc I also believe being Inbreeds with a low IQ they are too Stupid to be trained.

  4. linnte says

    Dec 15, 2016 at 9:02 pm

    Well I’ll be damned! Isn’t that what the USA did? I guess I am flabergasted. A thousand Terrorists call for the Caliph in London and nothing is done, and now this news. Why doesn’t Britain just send these guys to support the rebels. And the head of Britain First was tossed in jail just recently for stirring up Muslims. Britain…..God SAVE the Queen?

    • Westman says

      Dec 16, 2016 at 1:55 am

      I think the Pentagon’s experience in creating a mercenary army of Muslims ended in “Take the money and run”. Following a previously failed plan doesn’t seem very sane.

      • linnte says

        Dec 16, 2016 at 9:51 am

        Of course it’s a failed plan. You can’t trust Islamists. What flabnergasts me is that Britain full well knows it failed, yet they persue the same MO. It could only be the desire to continue to have a Western presence in Syria for the sake of oil.

  5. Christianblood says

    Dec 15, 2016 at 9:10 pm

    (..UK to train “moderate” Syrian opposition forces to target the Islamic State..)

    That is a cover story but the real reason the UK and US soldiers are illegally present on Syrian soil is to train their international jihadist mercenaries and then use them to over throw the Syrian president of Assad and his government and then replace him with the barbaric jihadists that are allied with them. There are few sensible people in both the US and the UK governments who want to stop this madness but they are hopelessly outnumbered:

    • Angemon says

      Dec 16, 2016 at 7:50 am

      Christianblood posted:

      “That is a cover story but the real reason”

      How do you know this alleged “real reason” is actually a thing and not the product of the voices in your head?

  6. silvergreycat says

    Dec 15, 2016 at 9:26 pm

    Her Majesty’s Government, as other governments have done, has mistaken moderate people for a moderate faith.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX20ZA_pX-I

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SM9_B02YZg

    .

  7. Troybeam says

    Dec 15, 2016 at 9:39 pm

    All that this is going to achieve is the Islamic soldiers will know how you fight and use it against you, guess the Brits don’t read the news from Kabul.

    • Anne Smith says

      Dec 16, 2016 at 5:44 am

      Just like the Americans arming Saddam and his men to fight against Iran. No-one out there is your friend – I am in despair about the naivety of our Foreign Office, which once upon a time used to be the best informed and smartest organisation in the world. Alas, those were the days of Empire when they knew what was in Britain’s best interests.

      Now it is all about virtue signalling, and to hell with the citizens they are supposed to be defending.

  8. al norm says

    Dec 15, 2016 at 10:04 pm

    RS: Here is a good diagram of the situation.
    https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1059/1*T55k5NfRLyvXCJD247z5ow.png
    here is the explanation
    https://medium.com/opacity/the-syrian-war-condensed-a-more-rigorous-way-to-look-at-the-conflict-f841404c3b1d#.78cz72fjh
    I can’t reproduce it here. But it would be good to place on your website

    • PRCS says

      Dec 15, 2016 at 10:39 pm

      Thanks for the links.

      Neither the Assad family nor Syria’s troops are angels, but considering the rebels……

      Here’s a political cartoon you might like:

      http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=the+bad+guys+the+good+guys+syria&view=detailv2&&id=D0EA68ADB5DB0A7A51FAF2CEFF257548CA674AC2&selectedIndex=0&ccid=BiRmGIiA&simid=608037636602924171&thid=OIP.M062466188880fc7a8f81f81512f1d4b5o0&ajaxhist=0

      • Cecilia Ellis says

        Dec 16, 2016 at 1:35 am

        PRCS, great political cartoon! Indeed, a picture is worth a thousand words.

  9. PRCS says

    Dec 15, 2016 at 10:34 pm

    “Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.”

    Note the delusional notion of a “secular” fighting force in the Middle East.

  10. Honking Goose says

    Dec 16, 2016 at 12:14 am

    Moderate Muslims?….what’re those? I think they’re the ones who don’t wear beards while they decapitate kuffars.

    • Honking Goose says

      Dec 16, 2016 at 12:15 am

      or maybe thats manicured muslims?

  11. Bhartiya says

    Dec 16, 2016 at 12:44 am

    Basically all these are trained to throw Asaad. The consequences are grave.

    Must read article and some videos on what Canadian Journalist Eva Bartlett has to say

    https://www.rt.com/news/370270-msm-agenda-siria-war/

  12. Anonymous says

    Dec 16, 2016 at 3:07 am

    The majority of comments on such reports always bemoan the (assumed) naivete of British (or other Western powers’) policy makers. Perhaps this is because to imagine otherwise requires recognizing that the western powers today are on the side of ISIS/Al Qaeda/Al Nusra et al.

    To an external observer, the reality of that is glaringly obvious.

    • ElderlyZionist says

      Dec 16, 2016 at 10:54 am

      I think the Saudis and Qataris have bribed the Tory government to send British troops to save the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria. The Brexit vote was supposed to signal a step back from globalization, but here the Tories go again, back into Syria. Obama has just a few more weeks left to meddle in this war – I hope Trump will get out and stay out. The Turks now have troops in Syria, backing up their ‘democratic’, ‘moderate’ Syrian rebels – I wonder what they’ll get up to now that Aleppo has fallen, but ISIS is back in Palmyra?

  13. Benedict says

    Dec 16, 2016 at 4:18 am

    “British military personnel have arrived in the Middle East to train “moderate” Syrian opposition forces as they attempt to open up a second front around Islamic State (IS) stronghold Raqqa.” –

    And Muslims in Britain, and other places in Europe, will undoubtedly show their thankfulness to their hosts for this support to their fellow religionists.

  14. Angemon says

    Dec 16, 2016 at 7:48 am

    British military personnel have arrived in the Middle East to train “moderate” Syrian opposition forces as they attempt to open up a second front around Islamic State (IS) stronghold Raqqa.

    Oh, for f***’s sake. Whatever genuine moderate opposition to Assad might have been at one point in time was done for after Assad released dangerous jihadis on his people under the guise of “releasing political prisoners as an act of good faith”.

  15. Yorkshire Kufir says

    Dec 16, 2016 at 8:50 am

    This is just the moral media panic cycle on it’s 2nd or 3rd iteration on this issue. The expanded civil war of islam is now the new “normal”

  16. Crusades Were Right! says

    Dec 16, 2016 at 10:31 am

    The REAL moderate faction in Syria is the Assad government and its armed forces. The enire civilized world should get behind them.

    • American Pragmatism says

      Dec 16, 2016 at 11:11 am

      That is right.

  17. American Pragmatism says

    Dec 16, 2016 at 11:10 am

    USA and UK: Let Syria go, you didn’t help iraq, iran, libya. Assad is an ally of the civilized world support him.

  18. TR says

    Dec 16, 2016 at 11:53 am

    The Bottom Line is; If they are not Syrian Christians, Do not trust them.
    The Christian Syrian Communities in the USA are an asset to our country.
    Patriotic and loyal to our Constitution. Many are excellent Police Officers and Servicemen.

  19. RCCA says

    Dec 16, 2016 at 1:49 pm

    They look more like teenagers (who barely have mustaches) who might actually be trained as file clerks and medics and bomb removal techs in the clean up operation. Infantry? Not so much.

    There are things about Syria I don’t quite understand. These kids look unscathed by the horrors of war, fresh faces and clean clothing.

    • ElderlyZionist says

      Dec 16, 2016 at 7:19 pm

      At least they’re not wearing beards. Maybe they’re too young to raise a set of whiskers.

  20. David, Thailand says

    Dec 16, 2016 at 10:41 pm

    Well done, UK, support ‘friendly Islamists’ against the Islamic State whilst also supporting several groups of ‘friendly Islamists’ against Assad who is fighting the Islamic State while your stated objective is to replace Assad with freedom and democracy that worked so well in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan. But you don’t really want to defeat Assad because he’s the main opposition to the Islamic State, and you also don’t want to defeat the Islamic State because having created the conditions for it the Muslim in the White House convinced you that Assad is the greatest evil in the region. And either way you will leave behind a vacuum to be quickly filled by another bunch of ‘friendly Islamists’ that will end up killing westerners and civilians with our own weapons.

    And that’s long before we inject our ‘friendlies’, Turkey, Saudi and Qatar, and the bad guys, Iran and Russia into the equation.

    Just as well none of this has anything to do with Islam, otherwise it would be a mess.

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