Aaron Klein / WND News & F. Michael Maloof / WND News – 2014-08-11 02:17:17
Secret Jordan Base Was Site of
Covert US Aid to Insurgents Targeting Assad
Aaron Klein / WND News
JERUSALEM (June 17, 2014) — — Syrian rebels who would later join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, were trained in 2012 by US instructors working at a secret base in Jordan, according to informed Jordanian officials.
The officials said dozens of future ISIS members were trained at the time as part of covert aid to the insurgents targeting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The officials said the training was not meant to be used for any future campaign in Iraq.
The Jordanian officials said all ISIS members who received US training to fight in Syria were first vetted for any links to extremist groups like al-Qaida.
In February 2012, WND was first to report the US, Turkey and Jordan were running a training base for the Syrian rebels in the Jordanian town of Safawi in the country’s northern desert region.
That report has since been corroborated by numerous other media accounts. Last March, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported Americans were training Syrian rebels in Jordan.
Quoting what it said were training participants and organizers, Der Spiegel reported it was not clear whether the Americans worked for private firms or were with the US Army, but the magazine said some organizers wore uniforms. The training in Jordan reportedly focused on use of anti-tank weaponry.
The German magazine reported some 200 men received the training over the previous three months amid US plans to train a total of 1,200 members of the Free Syrian Army in two camps in the south and the east of Jordan.
Britain’s Guardian newspaper also reported last March that US trainers were aiding Syrian rebels in Jordan along with British and French instructors. Reuters reported a spokesman for the US Defense Department declined immediate comment on the German magazine’s report. The French foreign ministry and Britain’s foreign and defense ministries also would not comment to Reuters.
The Jordanian officials spoke to WND amid concern the sectarian violence in Iraq will spill over into their own country as well as into Syria. ISIS previously posted a video on YouTube threatening to move on Jordan and “slaughter” King Abdullah, whom they view as an enemy of Islam.
WND reported last week that, according to Jordanian and Syrian regime sources, Saudi Arabia has been arming the ISIS and that the Saudis are a driving force in supporting the al-Qaida-linked group. WND further reported that, according to a Shiite source in contact with a high official in the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the Obama administration has been aware for two months that the al-Qaida-inspired group that has taken over two Iraqi cities and now is threatening Baghdad also was training fighters in Turkey.
The source told WND that at least one of the training camps of the group Iraq of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Syria, the ISIS, is in the vicinity of Incirlik Air Base near Adana, Turkey, where American personnel and equipment are located. He called Obama “an accomplice” in the attacks that are threatening the Maliki government the US helped establish through the Iraq war.
The source said that after training in Turkey, thousands of ISIS fighters went to Iraq by way of Syria to join the effort to establish an Islamic caliphate subject to strict Islamic law, or Shariah.
Saudis ‘Arming Jihadists’ Seizing Iraqi Cities
Militants threaten to take Baghdad, holy Shiite shrines
Aaron Klein / WND News
TEL AVIV (June 12, 2014) — Jordanian and Syrian regime sources are accusing Saudi Arabia of arming the jihadist group that reportedly has seized control of two key Sunni-dominated cities in Iraq. Sources from both regimes say the Saudis are a driving force in supporting the group called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, which Wednesday reportedly seized control of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s former hometown.
One day earlier, al-Qaida-linked jihadists took control most of the city of Mosul. On Thursday, Iraq’s government released a video showing what it said were airstrikes targeting the jihadist strongholds.
Hours earlier, Abu Mohammed al-Adnanin, an ISIS spokesman, threatened to march on Baghdad. Adnanin also said his group would take control of Karbala and Najaf, setting off sectarian concerns, since the cities house some of the holiest sites for Shiite Muslims.
Syrian regime sources told WND Thursday the Saudis view the failure to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a three-years-long insurgency as a victory for Assad’s ally, Iran. The sources said the Saudi kingdom is supporting the Iraqi jihadists, particularly ISIS, in a bid to offset Iranian dominance in Iraq and the region and to gain a Sunni stronghold in the strategic area.
The Jordanian regime sources told WND they fear the sectarian violence will spill over into their own country as well as into Syria. ISIS previously posted a video on YouTube [see below] threatening to move on Jordan and “slaughter” King Abdullah, whom they view as an enemy of Islam.
The Jordanian sources explained President Obama’s reported reluctance to assist in airstrikes in Iraq. The sources claimed striking along the Iraq-Syria border would cut off the supply line to rebels fighting in Syria.
On Thursday, the New York Times reported that last month the Obama administration rebuffed a secret request from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki, who was concerned over jihadist gains, to consider military airstrikes against extremist strongholds.
Source: Besieged Iraq Sees Obama as Jihad ‘Accomplice’
Charges US was aware for 2 months of ISIS training in Turkey
F. Michael Maloof / WND News
WASHINGTON (June 16, 2014) — The Obama administration has been aware for two months that the al-Qaida-inspired group that has taken over two Iraqi cities and now is threatening Baghdad was training fighters in Turkey, according to a Shiite source in contact with a high official in the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The source told WND that at least one of the training camps of the group Iraq of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Syria, the ISIS, is in the vicinity of Incirlik Air Base near Adana, Turkey, where American personnel and equipment are located.
He called Obama “an accomplice” in the attacks that are threatening the Maliki government the US helped establish through the Iraq war. “Who would believe that Obama’s administration was not part of the scheme?” he asked. “What is happening in Iraq is sectarian cleansing.”
The source said that after training in Turkey, thousands of ISIS fighters went to Iraq by way of Syria to join the effort to establish an Islamic caliphate subject to strict Islamic law, or Shariah. Turkey, a Sunni nation and a member of NATO, is opposed to Maliki because of his interference in Ankara’s negotiations with the Kurds over oil and to extend its influence over Sunnis in Iraq.
The Maliki administration has been seeking help from the Obama administration in the form of drones and airstrikes but has been turned down.
The WND source said knowledge of ISIS actions was to be coordinated with the Saudis. Riyadh, he said, had paid some $3 billion to the jihadist group to overthrow Maliki. “Plan B” was to split Iraq into three states, for Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites. He said Iraqi officials told him the US Embassy in Baghdad had known since June 2 of the attack on Mosul but declined to inform Maliki.
In an interview Monday with CBS’ “This Morning,” former acting CIA Director Mike Morell confirmed the intentions of ISIS and asserted that America’s security is threatened. “One (aim) is to set up that caliphate and, it’s not just in Iraq and in Syria,” Morell said. “Their second goal then is to use that as a safe haven to attack the United States.”
In the past, Turkey has been criticized by counter-terrorism experts for allowing ISIS to use its country for training and for turning down calls to close what is called the “jihadist highway” from Turkey to Syria for ISIS fighters and other armed groups. Persian Gulf nations, with US coordination, have been funneling arms into Turkey to help equip the Syrian opposition, much of which is comprised of ISIS other jihadist fighters.
In addition to Maliki, the Sunni Iraq Kurds similarly blame Turkey for backing the ISIS militants. There are separate reports that Turkish army personnel recently were caught training ISIS fighters in Iraq and that four Turkish soldiers have been arrested by the Iraqi army in Fallujah. The Turkish army has denied the claim. Turkey, a Sunni nation, is opposed to Maliki because of his interference in Ankara’s negotiations with the Kurds over oil and effort to extend its influence over Sunnis in Iraq.
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