Tag: syria

US ‘worked directly’ with terrorists in Syria on Israel’s behalf – Trump’s ex-counterterrorism chief

The US “worked directly with Al-Qaeda” and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) to topple former President Bashar Assad and destroy Syria, US President Donald Trump’s former counterterrorism chief, Joe Kent, has said.

Kent, who resigned as head of the US National Counterterrorism Center in protest of the US-Israeli war against Iran, made the remarks in an interview with MintPress News on Friday.

The former senior official reiterated his take on the Iran conflict as the latest in a series of wars waged by the US on behalf of Israel, preceded by the Second Iraq War and the Syrian Civil War, in which Washington actively backed terrorist groups, he said.

“We came in and we said: We’re going to work with the Israelis, but we’re also going to have to work heavily with the Sunni population on the ground in Syria to create an uprising,” he added.

“And that’s where ISIS came from. We worked directly with Al-Qaeda; Hillary Clinton’s emails confirm this. The operations that we were doing to support the so-called Free Syrian Army, and there were some moderates there, but the most effective guys initially were Al-Qaeda and then eventually ISIS.”

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Israeli Forces Raise Flag Over Syrian Town In Latest Raid: ‘Provocative Act’

Israeli military vehicles rolled into the town of Hadr in Syria’s Quneitra Governorate days ago and raised the Israeli flag over the town’s entrance. Locals say they also closed all but one road leading into or out of the town, and established a checkpoint on that road as well.

Though Israel routinely raids Quneitra’s towns and villages of late, raising the Israeli government’s flag over a town is more provocative than what usually happens in these incidents, and like most of Israel’s military forays on Syrian soil, they’ve yet to issue a statement to even attempt to explain the purpose of the operation.

Hadr is a relatively small town of about 5,000 people along the frontier between Quneitra Governorate and the UNDOF demilitarized zone, a zone which has subsequently been occupied militarily by Israel. Some suburbs of Hadr extend into the demilitarized zone.

Israel also launched operations against multiple other villages in Quneitra earlier this week, including Saida al-Golan and Saida al-Hanout. They captured two young men who were herding sheep to the west of the village.

The troops also captured two village elders in Saida al-Golan, though the elders were ultimately released without incident. The fate of the shepherds remains uncertain, and again the IDF has not commented.

As for the flag-raising incident, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which the mainstream media had long relied on as its main anti-Assad source throughout the prior war, detailed the following of the “provocative act”:

Al-Quneitra province: Israeli forces raised the Israeli flag at the entrance of Hadr Town in northern Al-Quneitra countryside [on Wednesday], raising local questions regarding the escalation in the area.

According to sources, these forces closed secondary roads leading to the town from the side of Al-Qanaif checkpoints, and only kept the main road leading to the town open.

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US Encourages Syria To Consider Military Action Against Hezbollah In Lebanon, But Damascus Remains Hesitant-Barrack Denies

The United States has privately urged Syria’s new government to deploy forces into eastern Lebanon to help dismantle or disarm the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, according to sources familiar with the discussions. However, Syrian authorities have shown strong reluctance, citing fears of drawing the country into a wider regional war and exacerbating sectarian tensions.

The proposal, first reported by Reuters, comes amid heightened efforts by the US and its allies to weaken Hezbollah following its attacks on Israel in support of Iran. Hezbollah opened fire on Israel on March 2, triggering an Israeli offensive in Lebanon as part of the broader Middle East conflict.

Sources briefed on the matter, including two Syrian officials and others with knowledge of the talks, told Reuters that Washington encouraged Damascus to send troops across the border to target Hezbollah positions in eastern Lebanon. The idea reportedly originated last year and gained renewed attention around the onset of US and Israeli military operations against Iran. Accounts differ on the precise timing: Syrian officials claim the request came just before the escalation, while a Western intelligence source placed it shortly after.

US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack, who also serves as ambassador to Turkey, swiftly denied the reports. In a post on X, Barrack described the claims that the US encouraged Syrian intervention in Lebanon as “false and inaccurate.” The US State Department declined to comment on private diplomatic exchanges.

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US Intelligence: 15,000+ Were Let Free From ISIS Detention Camp After Collapse

Another ‘win’ for America’s disastrous Syria policy, long predicated on overthrowing the Assad government and installing a ‘moderate’ Sunni regime – though it turns out Jolani’s bearded Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militants are anything but…

“U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that 15,000 to 20,000 people, including Islamic State affiliates are now at large in Syria, after an exodus from a camp that held jihadists’ families, U.S. officials familiar with the estimate said,” The Wall Street Journal reports Friday.

Who could have predicted that chaos, instability, and terrorism would come out of the CIA’s Operation Timber Sycamore? Well, we did, and every rational observer of the Syria situation.

A billion plus dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives after the decade-long proxy war, and this is all Washington has to show for it:  

Security experts have long warned that the wives of Islamic State fighters were effectively raising the next generation of militants at the sprawling Al-Hol facility. Security at the camp fell apart in recent weeks after Syria’s government routed the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which had guarded Al-Hol for years, raising concerns about the release of people who might have become radicalized during the years held behind the razor wire.

The size of a small city, the camp in Syria’s eastern desert at one point held more than 70,000 people after U.S.-backed forces destroyed what remained of Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria in 2019. At the end of 2025, more than 23,000 people were there, according to a report this week from the Pentagon’s Inspector General.

The US military is rapidly backing out of this region after the years-long occupation, effectively throwing the Kurds (SDF) under the bus, as HTS radicals move in and take control. 

Given many analysts have pointed to HTS being ‘ISIS-lite’ to begin with, the following WSJ note is no surprise: “The vast majority have left Al-Hol after the Syrian government took control last month. Western diplomats in Damascus assessed that more than 20,000 people fled the camp in a matter of days earlier amid rioting and a surge of escape attempts.”

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Israel Launches New Raids into Southern Syria, Troops Fire on Civilians

Israel has launched new incursions into southwestern Syria since Wednesday night, first firing artillery toward a village in the northern part of Quneitra Governorate and then, Thursday morning, sending troops in outright.

New checkpoints were established by the IDF, with the first reportedly in Sayda al-Hanout, where they restricted the movement of villagers, and then another in Jabata al-Khashab, further north in Quneitra. Both checkpoints are likely temporary, as Israel tends to establish them, hassle locals for a few hours, then withdraw.

The northern checkpoint appears to have been a more serious problem for locals, as the Israeli troops fired on civilians and news reporters in the nearby village of Ofaniyah. There were no reports of casualties, but it is fairly unusual for a checkpoint to involve shooting at people in the next village over.

In addition to the ground operations in Quneitra, there were reports of increased activity by Israeli warplanes over the neighboring Daraa Governorate. Though drones overhead in Israel-adjacent parts of Syria are not uncommon, the warplanes are an unusual escalation, despite no attacks having yet been reported.

Israel invaded Syria in December of 2024, immediately following the ouster of the Assad government. The territory that Israel has claimed is largely within the demilitarized zone, in Quneitra, though their ground operations continue and often go substantially deeper into Syrian territory, targeting both Daraa and Quneitra as well as the Rif al-Damashq Governorate further north.

Syria and Israel have been in negotiations meant to reduce tensions in the region, though Israel has ruled out withdrawing from the demilitarized zone and are instead demanding Syria created a whole new one adjacent to the old, now-occupied one.

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US Carries Out Large-Scale Strikes Against ISIS in Syria

US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that they have carried out “large-scale” airstrikes against ISIS in Syria, saying the hit multiple sites belonging to the terror group as part of their commitment to “pursuing terrorists” and in retaliation for the mid-December incident in which an ISIS infiltrator attacked and killed two US troops and an American civilian translator in Palmyra.

The strikes began Saturday evening, and CENTCOM claimed multiple coalition partners participated, though only Jordan has actually confirmed being involved so far. 35 sites were reportedly hit in the strikes, involving 90 “precision munitions.”

Details of what exactly was hit are unclear, though the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported three checkpoints within the Deir Ezzor Governorate were attacked by coalition strikes, though they noted that no damage was done and no casualties were reported in those cases.

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Syria is Normalizing Ties With Israel, Here’s Why – Analysis

There is no longer any space in which reasonable people can argue that Syria’s current leadership has not become a US-aligned force that seeks further cooperation with the Israelis.

On January 6, 2026, a joint statement was published by the US State Department, affirming that the Israelis and Syrians had established a “joint fusion mechanism”. Despite being labeled an official normalization deal, this mechanism works as a soft normalization arrangement.

As the topic of Syrian normalization is often one that triggers a rather aggressive reaction from all sides, it is important to cut through the propaganda to establish what just happened.

As a product of a direct meeting between Israeli and Syrian officials in Paris, with the participation of the United States, both Damascus and Tel Aviv have agreed to a quasi-normalization deal of sorts.

The joint statement that was published on the US State Department website makes the issue extremely clear: a “joint fusion mechanism”, or “dedicated communication cell”, has now been established. This mechanism includes facilitating Israeli-Syrian cooperation in the following arenas:

  • Intelligence sharing 
  • Diplomatic engagement 
  • Commercial opportunities 
  • Military de-escalation 

Some supporters of Syrian President, Ahmed al-Shara’a, have been adamant that what was reached and is being pursued is solely to do with security issues and the issue of southern Syria. Today’s joint statement thoroughly debunks any such claims.

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Germany Facing ‘Demographic Time Bomb’ From Syrian Chain Migration, Expert Warns

A leading immigration expert has warned that Germany is facing a “demographic time bomb” if it allows the massive influx of alleged refugees from Syria to become citizens as they will be enabled to bring their family members to the country.

A Dutch social scientist who is described as the top migration expert in Germany, Ruud Koopmans, has warned of the massive implications for the makeup of German society that chain migration represents. He argued that the government should consider whether it is the interest of the country to grant citizenship to the near million supposed refugees from Syria.

Speaking to Cicero magazine, Koopmans said that while there has been positive steps made, such as scrapping the so-called “turbo naturalization” of allowing migrants to apply for citizenship after just three years, the standard five-year process remains in place and can still “be considered a demographic time bomb in the long run.”

“We have almost one million Syrian refugees in Germany. It is necessary to think about the consequences of this for the future. This one million people has a great overrepresentation of men. They will look for their partners mostly in the country of origin. This is extremely likely because in these countries, marriages usually take place within large families. In these societies, marriage is also an economic business between families, and the ticket to Europe is an important means of exchange,” the Dutch social scientist said.

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How Washington’s Syrian Caper Debunks the Case for Empire

Sometimes a microcosm sheds a powerful light on large-scale macro issues. That was surely the case with respect to last weekend’s news that five US military personnel were involved in an ambush in Syria, which resulted in three deaths and three wounded. The incident apparently was caused by a member of the Syrian security forces, according to the Syrian Interior Ministry, who opened fire on a joint US-Syrian military patrol near the ancient ruins of Palmyra in central Syria (about 134 miles northeast of Damascus).

Needless to say, this news ignited a chorus of WTFs among the non-drinkers of the Deep State Kool Aid who post on X and elsewhere. After all, what other response was there when it became clear that these five servicemen were among more than 2,000 acknowledged US military personnel operating in the no count cipher of Syria; and that there are likely hundreds more covert forces working for the CIA and other US black operations there, as well.

And, yes, we do mean a spec of a country. After all, the tiny orange dot below is the essentially land-locked location of Syria on a representation of the global map. Relatively speaking, it has no economy, no technology, no military, no nukes, no oil, no minerals and, well, no nuthin’ that could possibly bear on the Homeland Security of America, way over here 6,000 miles away on the far side of the Atlantic.

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Why the Syrian Government Blames Its Own Security Personnel for the Attack on U.S. Soldiers

On December 13, 2025, a joint patrol of U.S. and Syrian forces near Palmyra, Syria, was ambushed by a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) gunman. The lone attacker opened fire on the convoy before being killed by American and partner forces. Two U.S. Army soldiers from the Iowa National Guard and an American civilian interpreter were killed in the assault, and three other U.S. service members were wounded.

The U.S. military and President Donald Trump blamed the Islamic State for the attack and vowed serious retaliation, a position initially echoed by Syrian authorities, who also announced the arrest of several suspects. However, a Syrian government spokesperson later acknowledged that the attacker was a member of state security forces who had been radicalized by ISIS.

Al-Sharaa, the country’s new leader, was formerly the founder of an extremist group that pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda. He is now seeking to rebrand himself as a legitimate statesman to secure sanctions relief, U.S. trade, and foreign investment. To that end, he has prioritized normalizing relations with the Trump administration through intelligence-sharing on ISIS and Iranian proxies, joint counterterrorism efforts, and broader international legitimacy.

He recently became the first Syrian leader hosted at the White House, and Syria formally joined the international coalition fighting ISIS just one month before the attack. Against that backdrop, the question is why the Syrian government admitted that a member of its security forces carried out the attack on U.S. soldiers.

The first reason is that it would have been difficult to claim otherwise because U.S. forces were present and witnessed exactly what happened. The second reason is that Syrian security personnel were also present and witnessed the entire incident. The attack targeted a joint U.S.-Syrian patrol, with members of the Syrian Internal Security Forces directly involved. Two Syrian service personnel were wounded, underscoring their proximity to the attack. Syrian forces were on site, responded to the gunfire, and killed the attacker.

Multiple Syrian officers were present as part of a “key leader engagement.” The Pentagon and CENTCOM stated that the attack occurred during a meeting between U.S. troops and Syrian Interior Ministry officials who had traveled from Damascus to coordinate with local counterparts in Palmyra.

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