Thread: US-Trained Syrian Rebels Allegedly Hand Weapons to Al Qaeda Affiliate

US-Trained Syrian Rebels Allegedly Hand Weapons to Al Qaeda Affiliate

Rebels from al Qaeda affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra / AP

BY: Morgan Chalfant
September 22, 2015 2:13 pm

U.S.-trained rebels that reentered Syria over the weekend after completing the Pentagon program allegedly gave their weapons to the al Qaeda affiliate in the region, al Nusra.

The Telegraph reported that rebels fighting with Division 30, the rebel group with whom the U.S.-trained Syrian fighters are partnering to combat the Islamic State, surrendered and handed over weapons and ammunition to members of al Nusra, according to members of the al Qaeda affiliate in Syria.

Abu Fahd al-Tunisi, who identifies himself as a member of al Nusra, wrote on Twitter, “A strong slap [in the face] for America … the new group from Division 30 that entered yesterday hands over all of its weapons to Jabhat al-Nusra after being granted safe passage.”

“They also handed over a very large amount of ammunition and medium weaponry and a number of pick-ups,” al-Tunisi added.

Another alleged al Nusra member, Abu Khattab al-Maqdisi, claimed on Twitter that the commander of Division 30 Anas Ibrahim Obaid said he tricked the U.S.-led coalition in order to obtain weapons.

“He promised to issue a statement … repudiating Division 30, the coalition, and those who trained him,” al-Maqdisi wrote.
U.S. Central Command said Monday that approximately 70 U.S.-trained Syrian rebels had reentered Syria after undergoing training in Turkey.

If confirmed, the U.S.-trained rebels relinquishing their weapons would represent another setback for the $500 million Pentagon program. In July, al Nusra kidnapped a number of U.S.-trained Syrian rebels when they entered Syria after becoming the first class to complete the training program. The al Qaeda affiliate was allegedly tipped off by Turkey.

Currently, only four or five rebels from the first class of the training program are still fighting the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL or ISIS) in the Middle East

The Pentagon plans to overhaul its effort to train rebels to fight the Islamic State.

http://freebeacon.com/national-secur...eda-affiliate/

US-trained Division 30 rebels 'betrayed US and hand weapons over to al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria'

Pentagon-trained rebels are reported to have betrayed US and handed weapons over to Jabhat al-Nusra immediately after entering Syria


Jabhat al-Nusra, affiliated to al-Qaeda, took the technicals, guns and ammunition from the US-trained Division 30 in northern Aleppo Photo: Reuters

By Nabih Bulos, Amman
5:22PM BST 22 Sep 2015

Pentagon-trained rebels in Syria are reported to have betrayed their American backers and handed their weapons over to al-Qaeda in Syria immediately after re-entering the country.

Fighters with Division 30, the “moderate” rebel division favoured by the United States, surrendered to the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, a raft of sources claimed on Monday night.

Division 30 was the first faction whose fighters graduated from a US-led training programme in Turkey which aims to forge a force on the ground in Syria to fight against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

A statement on Twitter by a man calling himself Abu Fahd al-Tunisi, a member of al-Qaeda’s local affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, read: "A strong slap for America... the new group from Division 30 that entered yesterday hands over all of its weapons to Jabhat al-Nusra after being granted safe passage.

"They handed over a very large amount of ammunition and medium weaponry and a number of pick-ups."




Charles Lister @Charles_Lister

Reports since yesterday claim US-backed leader Anas Obaid has betrayed US & handed weapons to Jabhat al-Nusra #Syria
12:35 AM - 22 Sep 2015



Abu Khattab al-Maqdisi, who also purports to be a Jabhat al-Nusra member, added that Division 30's commander, Anas Ibrahim Obaid,had explained to Jabhat al-Nusra's leaders that he had tricked the coalition because he needed weapons.

"He promised to issue a statement... repudiating Division 30, the coalition, and those who trained him," he tweeted. "And he also gave a large amount of weapons to Jabhat al-Nusra."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a monitoring group, reported that seventy-five Division 30 fighters had crossed into Syria from Turkey early the day before with “12 four-wheel vehicles equipped with machine guns and ammunition”.

US Central Command confirmed about 70 graduates of the Syria “train and equip” programme had re-entered Syria with their weapons and equipment and were operating as New Syrian Forces alongside Syrian Kurds, Sunni Arab and other anti-Isil forces.

The latest disaster, if true, will be the second to befall the programme. Last month, after the first group of fighters re-entered, the militia was attacked and routed by Jabhat al-Nusra, which stormed its headquarters and kidnapped a number of its members.

At the weekend, the group’s chief of staff also resigned, saying the training programme was “not serious”.

In the statement, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad al-Dhaher complained of insufficient numbers of trainees and fighters, inadequate supplies, and even “a lack of accuracy and method in the selection of Division 30’s cadres”.

The latest developments have only added to the scorn heaped on the much-criticized $500 million (£320m) program, which aimed to forge a 5,400-strong force of “moderate” rebels to combat Isil.

It has been hampered by problems almost from the outset, with rebels complaining of a laborious vetting process. The biggest point of contention is that they are only allowed to fight Isil, not the Assad regime, which is the principal enemy for most opposition groups.


General Lloyd Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee that only "four or five" US-trained rebels were still fighting the Islamic State Photo: AP

Last Wednesday, General Lloyd Austin, head of US Central Command, shocked leaders in the US Senate's armed services committee when he said there were only handful of programme graduates still fighting inside Syria. "We're talking four or five," he said.

Senator Thom Tillis
✔@SenThomTillis

Today the public learned only 4 to 5 U.S.-trained Syrian fighters remain on the battlefield vs. ISIS. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-program-isis-fighters-syria-general-lloyd-austin-congress/ …
4:12 PM - 16 Sep 2015

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-in-Syria.html

The Pentagon is a bunch of morons. They've no common sense, no understanding, no insight, no nothing at all of any kind with regards to these foreign populations. Stupid is as stupid does.

We're enabling terrorists in Syria and child rapists in Afghanistan.

You cannot help those who do not want help!

If you attempt to help those who do not want help, you will get hurt!

The President in the 1950's told us to NEVER involve America in Middle Eastern affairs. That proves that you cannot help those Americans who refuse help!

Bringing Middle Eastern Islamic radicals to America will not make American safe! It will again prove that the first two statements in this post are correct.

U.S.-trained Syrian rebels investigating alleged defection

Sept. 23, 2015
Updated 1:18 p.m.

In this file image posted on a Twitter account of Syria's al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front on Tuesday, July 7, 2015, a tank from the Nusra Front fires during their clashes against the Syrian government forces at the western Zahra neighborhood in Aleppo city, Syria.AL-NUSRA FRONT TWITTER PAGE VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

By SARAH EL DEEB / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEIRUT – U.S.-trained rebels who recently returned to Syria said Wednesday they have lost contact with one of their officers and that they are investigating reports that he defected and handed over his weapons to al-Qaida’s branch in the country.

The U.S. military said it had no indication that any U.S.-trained fighters have defected.

The allegations come only days after the group of about 70 rebels returned to Syria after training in Turkey as part of the U.S. program to train and equip rebels to take part in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Defection among the ranks of U.S.-trained rebels would be an embarrassment to the program, which has already been criticized as offering too little too late and failing to provide enough protection for those trained rebels once inside Syria. The selected rebels are said to undergo a thorough vetting process to ensure they focus on the fight against the IS.

U.S. officials have begun an overhaul of the efforts, including suggesting that the newly trained fighters operate as the New Syrian Forces, or NSF, alongside Syrian Kurds, Sunni Arab and other anti-Islamic State forces.

The U.S. Central Command confirmed Monday the graduates have re-entered Syria with their weapons and equipment and were to operate alongside existing western-allied forces.

In a new statement Wednesday, it said it had no indication that any New Syrian Forces fighters have defected to the al-Qaida branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, contrary to several press and social media reports. “Additionally, all Coalition-issued weapons and equipment are under the positive control of NSF fighters,” it said.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said any accounts of a defection are “patently false.” He said the U.S. is in contact with the latest group of trainees and as of Wednesday, all of them and their weapons were accounted for.

Another previous batch of rebels trained by the U.S. had previously been hit hard by the rival Nusra Front, also known as Jabhat al-Nusra. That group, made up of 54 fighters, was wiped out by the Nusra Front soon after it returned to Syria in July. Several members of the group were killed and others taken hostage while many fighters fled.

U.S. Central Command spokesman, Air Force Col. Patrick Ryder, said that those rebels largely disbanded — of the 54, one was killed; one is being held captive; nine are back in the fight; 11 are available but not in Syria; 14 returned to Syria but quit the U.S. program and 18 are unaccounted for.

The new allegations, pertaining to the second group of U.S.-trained rebels, were first circulated on social media after the group returned to Syria last week. The U.S.-based SITE intelligence group, which monitors militant websites, said supporters of the Nusra Front first reported that a group of those newly trained by America have handed over their weapons to the militants after they were arrested. The report made no mention of a defecting officer.

Other supporters of the Nusra Front posted pictures of what they said were weapons seized from the U.S. trained rebels.

In response to the allegations, the U.S. trained group, known as Division 30, posted a statement on its Facebook page saying it is investigating. If allegations are true, the group said, it will refer the officer in question to a military tribal on charges of treason because the weapons “belong to the Syrian people.” The group acknowledged losing contact with the officer but denied any contacts with al-Qaida’s affiliate.

Adding to the confusion, the officer, identified by Division 30 as Anas Ibrahim Abu Zayed, posted a statement on his Facebook page where he is identified as Anas Jalo, said he is no longer with Division 30 but works independently in the northern province of Aleppo. This suggested he was not working with al-Qaida’s affiliate, though he did not specifically say so.

Abu Zayed said he would not coordinate with the international coalition but continue to fight IS and the Syrian government forces on his own.

Earlier in the conflict, Abu Zayed was a member of another U.S.-backed rebel group known as Hazm, which was crushed late last year by the Nusra Front in a battle in Idlib province, in northern Syria.

The U.S.-trained rebels face significant challenges — from minuscule numbers in a war that has a myriad of competing armies, to social media postings that have described them as “dogs of America” and a media campaign that has tainted the group’s name even before they returned to Syria. Other rebels have derided them for agreeing to focus their fight on IS, away from Syrian President Bashar Assad, whom they consider the main target of their rebellion.

The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdurrahman, said the U.S. trained rebels are so few and so ill-equipped that they have not shown to be relevant.

“So far, they have made no impact on the ground,” he said. “If they (Americans) want to train some, they must first train them on human rights issues and democracy before military training.”

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/g...s-trained.html

They also said that Afghans weren't abusing little boys.

U.S.-trained fighters in Syria gave equipment to al-Qaeda affiliate


Rebel fighters fire a heavy machine gun during clashes with Syrian pro-government forces in the northwestern Idlib province, on August 31, 2015. (Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images)

By Karen DeYoung September 25 at 8:26 PM

American-trained Syrian fighters gave at least a quarter of their U.S.-provided equipment to al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria early this week, the U.S. Central Command said late Friday.

In a statement correcting earlier assertions that reports of the turnover were a “lie” and a militant propaganda ploy, the command said it was subsequently notified that the Syrian unit had “surrendered” some of its equipment — including six pickup trucks and a portion of its ammunition — to Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s arm in Syria.

The acknowledgment is the latest discouraging report regarding the $500 million train-and-equip program, which Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, head of Central Command, said last week had only “four or five” trained Syrian fighters active in Syria.

Since then, the military has said approximately 70 fighters have been added.

The Centcom statement called the new information on the equipment, “if accurate . . . very concerning and a violation of the Syria train and equip program guidelines.”

It said the equipment had been turned over voluntarily, adding that the New Syrian Force had indicated that on Monday and Tuesday, it “gave” the equipment to a suspected Jabhat al-Nusra “intermediary.”

The statement said initial reports that the weapons had been turned over stemmed from a Jabhat al-Nusra tweet of an image of a U.S.-issued rifle that it claimed had been handed over by U.S.-trained Syrians who entered the country last week. “Central Command conducted an analysis of the image . . . and determined the claim to be false,” the statement said.

That determination, it said, was based on assurances from the Syrian force that all issued equipment was under its control and “because the tweeted image was an old picture repurposed from the Facebook page of a previously deployed fighter.”
But “in light of this new information,” said a Central Command spokesman, Col. Patrick Ryder, “we wanted to ensure the public was informed as quickly as possible about the facts as we know them at this time.”

“We are using all means at our disposal to look into what exactly happened and determine the appropriate response,” Ryder said.

A military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the initial assurances regarding the weapons had come from the deputy commander of the unit. It was the unit leader who surrendered the equipment and who contacted the U.S. military with the correct information Friday, the official said.

In the toxic and chaotic Syrian mix, Jabhat al-Nusra and many Syrian rebels are fighting a separate war from the one being waged by the United States against the Islamic State. Their main goal is the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.

U.S. military vetters have had a hard time finding approved Syrians to train who are also willing to pledge to direct their focus toward the Islamic State rather than Assad.

The Pentagon’s admission of the arms turnover comes at an especially sensitive time for the White House. In light of the shortcomings of the train-and-equip program, President Obama’s top national security officials in recent days have turned their attention toward other irregular forces in Syria that have made gains against the Islamic State in the northern part of the country.

As part of a new initiative, White House and Pentagon officials have been considering providing arms and ammunition to a wider array of rebel groups and relaxing some vetting standards.

The recent disclosures, however, highlight the pitfalls of that strategy in Syria, where the United States has essentially no troops on the ground and little means of accounting for the weapons it provides.

The push to arm more forces in Syria has been driven partly by frustration with the stalemated fight in Iraq, where an Iraqi army assault on Ramadi has ground to a halt. It is also fueled by the unexpected gains made by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

Syrian forces, led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, were able with U.S. help to dislodge the Islamic State from Tal Abyad and other areas close to Syria’s border with Turkey this summer.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...679_story.html

America is so ignorant. Really it is, did not we have to fight against American weapons we gavethe Taliban to fight Russia? Are'nt we fighting ISIS and they have the weapons we gave Iraq?
Americans keep electing politicians who authorize such stupidity. Yes, congress funds it, wo they are guilty, too.
I just cannot fathom how much it takes to get America to see that the biggest adversaries we have are Democrats and Republicans!