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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

CIA-armed militias are shooting at Pentagon-armed ones in Syria

2019-10-24

Moved to P.2: War on Terror Background after Pancho Flerens6518 pointed out this article was published Mar 26, 2016.

—trailing wife for the moderators at 4:30 p.m. EDT

[ChicagoTribune] Syrian militias armed by different parts of the U.S. war machine have begun to fight each other on the plains between the besieged city of Aleppo and the Turkish border, highlighting how little control U.S. intelligence officers and military planners have over the groups they have financed and trained in the bitter 5-year-old civil war.

The fighting has intensified over the past two months, as CIA-armed units and Pentagon-armed ones have repeatedly shot at each other as they have maneuvered through contested territory on the northern outskirts of Aleppo, U.S. officials and rebel leaders have confirmed.

In mid-February, a CIA-armed militia called Fursan al Haq, or Knights of Righteousness, was run out of the town of Marea, about 20 miles north of Aleppo, by Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces moving in from Kurdish-controlled areas to the east.

"Any faction that attacks us, regardless from where it gets its support, we will fight it," said Maj. Fares Bayoush, a leader of Fursan al Haq.

Rebel fighters described similar clashes in the town of Azaz, a key transit point for fighters and supplies between Aleppo and the Turkish border, and March 3 in the Aleppo neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsud.

President Barack Obama recently authorized a new Pentagon plan to train and arm Syrian rebel fighters, relaunching a program that was suspended in the fall after a string of embarrassing setbacks, which included recruits being ambushed and handing over much of their U.S.-issued ammunition and trucks to an al-Qaida affiliate.

Posted by:g(r)omgoru

#12 Good for the arms business!

Posted by: JohnQC 2019-10-24 16:22

#11 Yeah, BP... but not as effectively.

Posted by: DarthVader 2019-10-24 14:06

#10 Wouldn't they still kill each other even if American taxpayer's didnt subsidise this?

Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2019-10-24 13:36

#9 The game where both sides lose.

Posted by: DarthVader 2019-10-24 12:45

#8 #1 what Murcek said

Posted by: Lex 2019-10-24 12:34

#7 in addition to it being an event from the Obama Admin, it was not necessarily bad

suppose American Armed anti Assad group A killed 10 ISIS terrorists and saved 100 anti Assad civilians from death and killed 1 anti Assad group B fighter

While

American armed anti Assad group B did essentially the same but killed 1 anti Assad group B fighter

that would actually be a good outcome

Posted by: lord garth 2019-10-24 12:19

#6 Old: Mar 26, 2016

Posted by: Pancho Flerens6518 2019-10-24 11:35

#5 Wag the Dog

Posted by: Skidmark 2019-10-24 11:31

#4 Forget it, Jake. It's Calvinball.

This would make a good plot point for a remake of The In-Laws.

Posted by: SteveS 2019-10-24 11:12

#3 Get the hell out! Everybody had gone nuts there.

Posted by: 3dc 2019-10-24 11:09

#2 Or shhhhhhhhould I ssssssschay Schhhhhhhitschhhhhhow?

Posted by: M. Murcek 2019-10-24 10:45

#1 Shitshow...

Posted by: M. Murcek 2019-10-24 10:43

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