Global Research, September 08, 2018
President Donald Trump is coming to the rescue of Al Qaeda freedom fighters in Northern Syria:
“President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib Province,
The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake …
Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed,…
Don’t let that happen!” (Donald Trump)
“Humanitarian mistake”? Since when has Trump expressed concern for saving lives?
Both the media and the US government are accusing Bashar al Assad of attacking a region which encompasses three million people. That’s more than the population of Damascus. The latest figures, from Russian sources (acknowledged by the UN) is that the Al Nusrah group has 16,000 militants. All in all there are between 40-45 armed groups representing some 50,000 rebels (according to the Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia (AFP, September 7, 2008)
The unspoken truth is that the Syrian government is intent upon liberating a region of the country where civilians are being held hostage by Al Qaeda affiliated terrorists supported by the US and its allies.
Trump’s special envoy, Brett McGurk, admits that Idlib has become “the largest al Qaeda safe haven since 9/11.” What he fails to mention is that these “jihadist” mercenaries entered Syria with the support of US-NATO-Israel-Turkey, not to mention the Gulf States. Until recently we called them “moderate rebels”.
Idlib is Al Qaeda’s de facto capital in Syria. According to Tony Cartalucci, “Idlib remains one of the last remaining strongholds of Al Qaeda in Syria”.
Western Special Forces in Idlib within Al Qaeda Ranks?
The Al Qaeda rebels are the foot-soldiers of the Western military alliance (with US and allied special forces, intelligence, weapons and logistics experts within their ranks). With an estimated 50,000 rebels, the number of embedded (covert) Western paramilitary (Arab speaking) mercenary forces is significant (e.g. from private security companies in liaison with US-NATO-Israel-Turkey).
While there are no reliable figures regarding the number of US-allied sponsored mercenary special forces in the Idlib Region working with Al Qaeda rebel groups, earlier reports confirm the presence of Western special forces, covert intelligence agents including British SAS, French Parachutistes, CIA, MI6 and Mossad embedded within rebel ranks. “Their activities are not limited to training. They are routinely involved in overseeing the conduct of terrorist operations on the ground together with thousands of mercenaries recruited from Muslim countries”.
From the outset of the insurgency in 2011, Al Qaeda affiliated rebel forces including al Nusrah were “infiltrated” by Western military and intelligence operatives.
“MI6 and the CIA are in Syria to infiltrate and get at the truth,” said the well-placed source. “We have SAS and SBS not far away who want to know what is happening … ” (Syria will be bloodiest yet, Daily Star, January 2012). (emphasis added)
Screenshot of a 2012 report
With covert intel operatives, special forces and mercenaries (on contract to the Pentagon-NATO) within Al Qaeda ranks, the Idlib terrorist stronghold is therefore of strategic importance to the US. It constitutes a means to maintaining US and allied military presence in Northern Syria.
And that is precisely why the US and its allies (including France, Britain, Israel) are planning to intervene militarily in liaison with their covert special forces and intel. operatives embedded within Al Qaeda.
But they need a pretext and justification: And that is where the False Flag Chemical Weapons Attack scenario comes in: i.e. with a view to providing a pretext for military intervention on “humanitarian grounds”, “coming to the rescue” of 3 million Syrian civilians who are allegedly threatened by President Assad and Syrian government forces.
While many Al Qaeda fighters have surrendered and have left Syria via the “humanitarian corridors”, there are indications that the jihadist fighters are being threatened not to abandon combat:
“[they] would never lay down their weapons or surrender. By Allah, we have taken a vow about this, and we shall crucify anyone who surrenders his weapon.” (Testimony of a foreign Al Qaeda mercenary).
Recent reports suggest that 13,000 rebels of the Al Nusra group (out of a total of 16,000) are prepared to negotiate a truce. (AFP, September 7, 2018, quoting Russia’s Ambassador to the UN).
The target of military intervention on the part of Syrian and Russian forces would be limited to the hardcore jihadist fighters, who have taken over Idlib city and the Idlib “De-escalation Zones” and who refuse to engage in truce and reconciliation.
What is at stake is an intricate and complex counterterrorism operation directed against Al Qaeda fighters. And these are the Al Qaeda “freedom fighters” who just so happen to be supported by Donald Trump.
Needless to say the US-NATO objective is to sabotage the Liberation of Idlib
“Lethal Aid”: Weapons and Ammo to the Terrorists
“The Americans are on Our side”, says rebel Al Nusra commander in an interview with the Koelner Stadt Anzeiger (September 26, 2016).
Jabhat al-Nusra unit commander Abu Al Ezz confirmed that the US is sending weapons to Al Nusrah through “third countries”.
“Yes, the US supports the opposition [in Syria], but not directly. They support the countries that support us. But we are not yet satisfied with this support,”
The above statement pertains to weapons deliveries by America’s allies including Saudi Arabia, Israel, Qatar and Turkey.
Shipments of Weapons to Al Qaeda
There is a vast literature which documents covert support to Al Qaeda as well the shipment of weapons and ammo to rebel forces in Syria.
One example: according to Jane’s Defence Weekly, quoting documents released by the U.S. Government’s Federal Business Opportunities (FBO), the US –as part of its “counterterrorism campaign”– has provided Syrian rebels [aka moderate Al Qaeda] with large amounts of weapons and ammunition.
US military aid to the rebels channeled (unofficially) through the illicit market, is routine and ongoing. In December 2015, a major US sponsored shipment of a staggering 995 tons of weapons was conducted in blatant violation of the ceasefire. According to Jane’s Defence Weekly, the U.S. “is providing [the weapons] to Syrian rebel groups as part of a programme that continues despite the widely respected ceasefire in that country [in December 2015].” (Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, May 27, 2017)
Aid and Financial Support Channelled to Al Qaeda in Idlib
According to a study by the Century Foundation (quoted by Cartalucci) Al Qaeda has established a network of services and local institutions which are funded by the US, UK, and European Union:
Screenshot of Century Foundation report
What Relationship to September 11, 2001?
The Trump administration’s (unofficial) objective is ultimately to protect Al Qaeda and sabotage the Syrian governmen
t’s anti-terrorism campaign, which consists in dismantling the Al Qaeda terror stronghold and restoring civilian government.
t’s anti-terrorism campaign, which consists in dismantling the Al Qaeda terror stronghold and restoring civilian government. 
America’s continued support of Al Qaeda is the fundamental issue.
If that support (which includes supplies from Turkey and military logistics in support of the terrorists) were to cease and US-NATO were to recall its jihadist foot-soldiers, the conflict would be over.
In a bitter irony and unknown to the broader public, the Trump Administration is supporting in Syria the same network of Al Qaeda fighters which allegedly attacked America on September 11, 2001.
Sounds contradictory?
You cannot wage “a war on terrorism” and at the same time “come to the rescue of the terrorists”. Or can you?
In fact, that is what the US has being doing since the onslaught of the Soviet-Afgan war in 1979.
Image right: Al Nusra Brigade in Syria
As we might recall, on the evening of September 11, 2001, President Bush in a televised address to the Nation said that he would:“make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them”.
How does that relate to Donald Trump and Washington’s role in Syria?
Al Qaeda in Syria has been “harbored” by the US government (and its allies) since the outset of the war in March 2011. That’s the forbidden truth.
Applying GWB’s 9/11 concept: America is the State Sponsor of Terrorism. Q.E.D.
Revisions and updates on September 8, 2018
The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright © Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2018
Uprooted Palestinian 
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
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