Great Success! US-Backed Fighters Seize US-Made Missiles Heading To Other US-Backed Fighters In Syria
Tyler Durden / Southfront.org
(March 30, 2021) — In an unusual turn of events in Syria, militants once backed by the US have seized a shipment of US-made missiles that was heading to fighters currently backed by the US.
The missiles, US-made TOWs, were seized on March 28 by the Syrian Task Force, a joint force of the Turkish Police, Counterterrorism Unit and the National Syrian Army (SNA), near the Turkish-occupied town of Azaz in the northern Aleppo countryside.
According to the Turkish Ministry of Interior, the smugglers confessed that that they had been trying to transfer weapons to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the town of Manbij in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo.
Beside two TOW anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), the weapons shipment included 24 AK-type assault rifles, a designated marksman rifle, two gun tubes and ammunition.
Most SNA factions were once backed by the US, which supplied them with TOW ATGMs until late 2017. The YPG and the PKK, one the other hand, are the core of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which still receive US support.
Between 2012 and 2017, the US shipped loads of weapons and ammunition to rebels in Syria in an attempt to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Pentagon led these efforts to arm the Syrian rebels with a direct support from US allies in the Middle East, first and foremost Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
US efforts didn’t only fail to topple the Damascus government, but also ended up turning Syria into a large black market for advanced weapons. Many of the weapons supplied by the US and its allies found their way to the hands of terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda-linked Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. Some of these weapons were found in Iraq and even Lebanon.
Today, weapons like TOW ATGMs, are being used by militants once supported by the US against Washington’s current proxies in Syria and vice versa.
The US plans to arm Syrian rebels inflamed the war, threatened neighboring countries and even ended up turning Washington’s tools against each other. Some not very tolerant social media users would call these great achievements a brilliant example of “clusterfuck.”
Turkish-backed Militants Use US-supplied TOW Missiles against SDF
(October 19, 2019) — On October 17, the Turkish-backed National Syrian Army (NSA) released videos of its militants using U.S.-made TOW anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The videos show Turkish-backed militants destroying a DShK 12.7 mm machine gun and an anti-tank missile launcher of the Kurdish-led group in the outskirt of the border town of Ras al-Ayn.
This was the first recorded use of the U.S.-made weapon against the SDF since the beginning of the Turkish-led Operation Peace Spring in northeast Syria earlier this month.
Hundreds of TOW missiles were supplied by the U.S. as a part of its operation to train and equip anti-government groups in Syria. The operation, codenamed “Timber Sycamore,” was authorized by then President Barack Obama in 2013. Three years later it was halted by President Donald Trump.
A large part of the weapons supplied during operation Timber Sycamore reached the hands of terrorist organizations such as ISIS and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra). The NSA is now appearenly using what’s left of these missiles against the SDF, the main ‘US ally’ in Syria.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
