دهولهتی ئهمهریکا بهریاری داوه راهێنان به ئهرتشی ئازادی سۆریا بکات بۆ له ناو بردنی رژیمی دیکتاتوری ئهسد ئهم راهێنانه له وهڵاتی ئهوردون دهکرێت
US Training Free Syrian Army in Jordan
by Mahmoud Abu Ghosh
http://www.indynewsisrael.com
Americans are training Syrian anti-government fighters in Jordan, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported Sunday, quoting what it said were participants and organizers.
Spiegel said it was not clear whether the Americans worked for private security firms or were from the United States military but reported that some wore uniforms. The training is said to specifically focus on the use of anti-tank weaponry.
The bases in Jordan were previously used by US Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton to train the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security Force (PPS).
Britain’s Guardian newspaper also reported last week that American trainers were assisting Syrian rebels in Jordan. British and French instructors were also participating in the US-led effort, the Guardian said Saturday, citing Jordanian security sources.
Jordanian intelligence services are involved in the program, which aims to build around a dozen units totaling some 10,000 fighters to the exclusion of Muslim elements, Spiegel reported.
“The Jordanian intelligence services want to prevent Salafists crossing from their own country into Syria and then returning later to stir up trouble in Jordan itself,” one of the organizers told the paper.
The reports could not be independently verified.
A spokesman for the US defense department declined immediate comment on theSpiegel report, with the French foreign ministry and Britain’s foreign and defense ministries also having no comment.
US Secretary of State John Kerry announced at a meeting in Rome two weeks ago, however, that Washington will provide $60 million in “immediate” non-lethal aid to hand-picked Syrian rebel groups, making it clear the assistance would go to mainstream opposition groups – like the Free Syrian Army – believed to be loyal to Western interests in the Middle East.
At the same event, British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that Britain would join the United States in training and equipping opposition forces in their fight to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power.
Meanwhile, a report last week in Foreign Policy magazine said that Turkey, a member of NATO and key American ally in the region, is supporting an effort by Arab nations and NGOs to fund anti-regime forces in Syria.
More than 70,000 people have been killed and 1 million refugees have fled the Syrian conflict which began as pro-democracy protests but has turned into a sectarian war between rebels mainly from Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority and government forces defending the Alawite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The United States has said it would provide medical supplies and food directly to opposition fighters but has ruled out sending arms for fear they may find their way to hardliners who might later use them against Western interests in the region.
American allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar are widely believed to be providing weapons to the rebels, and Arab League ministers decided last Wednesday to allow member nations arm anti-Assad forces.
No comments:
Post a Comment