Did US Have Role In Anti-Christian Jihadists Taking Syria?

A news report in Eastern Europe reveals that the endless tangle of Ukrainian corruption may have one final victim: Middle Eastern Christians.

Western governments largely celebrated the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria, marking the end of a six-decade-long dictatorship led by the nation's Alawite minority. But so did international jihadist groups and terrorist organizations, recognizing the military force that captured the capital city of Damascus -- Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS -- as one of their own. 

Yet the region's ever-diminishing Christian population sees HTS as a potentially existential threat. And Ukrainian, and possibly U.S., intelligence and military officials see HTS members as former students.

Islamic fundamentalist "rebel groups based in the Idlib region -- which is said to include members of the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) -- had received operational training from special forces troops from the Khimik group of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR). The training team focused on tactics developed during the war in Ukraine, including on the use of drones," reported the Kyiv Post in a story titled "Ukrainian Trained, Turkish Sponsored Syrian Rebels Lead Assault on Aleppo" on December 1.

Idlib is controlled by the "former" al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group which just overwhelmed the capital.

The publication in question is hardly a source of "Russian disinformation." The Kyiv Post recently boasted, "Our publication has just been listed by the NewsGuard Internet Trust Tool as one of the world's top providers of reliable journalism with a perfect rating of 100%. In other words we have made it into the same league as The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times and Politico."

Why is Ukraine training foreign Islamists? The Ukrainian military sees HTS as an ally against Russia, which has had a long alliance with Syria. "We will keep killing Russians anywhere and everywhere until the complete victory of Ukraine," declared the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (HUR), Major General Kyrylo Budanov, last May. The Ukrainian military is killing Russian soldiers in Syria to prevent them from shifting to the European front. In regional parlance, they're "fighting them over there, so they don't have to fight them over here." In the process, they are training jihadist rebels.

The Biden administration seemingly approves. "The Assad regime's ... reliance on the brutal support of Russia and Iran led inevitably to its own collapse," gloated Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday.

It is virtually a foregone conclusion Ukrainian military forces are using U.S. funds to train these jihadists -- or at a minimum, since money is fungible, U.S. donations and "loans" are offsetting the cost of training armed Syrian Islamists. President Joe Biden, whose family has close ties with Ukraine, has made funding Ukraine a top priority of his foreign policy. 

Unfortunately, he has not given financial accountability equal priority. Time magazine reported last November that "corruption has grown rife" in the Ukrainian government -- a development observers of the region had long known. "People are stealing like there's no tomorrow," a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the publication.

"The question here is, 'Where is the money?'" asked Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Ukraine. "Corruption can kill." U.S. aid already underwrites virtually every sector of Ukrainian society, even apart from corruption.

Military experts believe the U.S. directly trained and equipped HTS or other Islamist forces in Syria as part of their broader geostrategic mission. The U.S. government under then-President Barack Obama launched an aggressive campaign to arm and train Syrian rebels a decade ago.

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) William G. Boykin, executive vice president of Family Research Council, told "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins" on Monday that although he is not certain, "It would not surprise me if we didn't have a CIA hand in" training HTS or its allies via "some covert action going on in there to train and equip these people."

"They did a good job" of honing the militia bands' fighting skills, Boykin told Perkins. "But you've got to know who your enemy is."

HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani became inspired to take up arms after he saw the 9/11 attackers, whom he extolled as "exceptional," taking Osama bin Laden as a personal idol. In 2003, he moved to Mosul, Iraq, to join Saraya al-Mujahideen, which later joined al-Qaeda. Al-Jolani distinguished himself as a terrorist in the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI), moving up the ranks. U.S. forces arrested him in 2006. 

A few years later, he founded the al-Nusra Front, or Jabhat al-Nusra, as an al-Qaeda affiliate in part with the help of Islamic State founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Although it publicly broke with al-Qaeda in 2016, HTS "and its components still maintain contact with Al-Qaida leadership," according to the United Nations.

HTS seized Idlib in northwestern Syria in 2017, establishing a so-called "Salvation Government." It went on to storm Aleppo, Hama, Homs, and finally, Damascus.

Violent Islamic fundamentalists throughout the region celebrated HTS's ascent to power. Hamas issued an official statement congratulating "the brotherly Syrian people on their success in achieving their aspirations for freedom and justice, and we call on all components of the Syrian people to unite." Also, Ziad al-Nakhala, head of the Islamic Jihad, added, "The Islamic Jihad hopes Syria will remain a real support for the Palestinian people, their just cause, as it has always been."

Although al-Jawlani effectively became the leader of Syria with the Biden administration's congratulations, the U.S. government is still "offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Muhammad al-Jawlani, also known as Abu Muhammad al-Golani and Muhammad al-Julani." The government explains:

"Under al-Jawlani's leadership, ANF has carried out multiple terrorist attacks throughout Syria, often targeting civilians. In April 2015, ANF reportedly kidnapped, and later released, approximately 300 Kurdish civilians from a checkpoint in Syria. In June 2015, ANF claimed responsibility for the massacre of 20 residents in the Druze village of Qalb Lawzeh in Idlib province, Syria. ... On May 16, 2013, the U.S. Department of State designated al-Jawlani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended."

"Jolani is bathed in blood. ... the blood of U.S. troops," wrote Brandon Weichert, a foreign policy author. "He and his group were chosen for their ferocity to be the tip of Turkey's Islamist spear into Syria. The US intel services helping him also wanted Jolani for his ferocity. But that ferocity will not end here."

The rebranded HTS, which now boasts of its "diversity," stands for "Organization for the Liberation of the Levant." Al-Jawlani insists he no longer has broader aims at a worldwide jihad and wishes to concentrate on creating an Islamic state inside Syria ... one, he insists, will respect the human rights of religious minorities. On December 5, al-Jawlani issued a message to the primarily Greek Orthodox Christian town of Muharda, promising that "we have treated the sons of the Christian religion well in Idlib and Aleppo, and in the same way we will protect you and your property."

But critics have reason for skepticism.

"However, none of this changes the fact that there are many jihadists in its [HTS] ranks, and we must therefore expect that the organization also acts like a jihadist group that commits acts of violence against religious and ethnic minorities," noted Middle East analyst Guido Steinberg. He told a German news outlet HTS may initiate "a reign of terror for the population, especially in the districts of Aleppo populated by Christians and Kurds."

"The fear that minorities including Shias, Kurds, and Alawites might be feeling right now, stems from the poor human rights records of both HTS and factions of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army who have joined HTS in its recent operation," agreed Hiba Zayadin, a senior researcher in the Middle East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. "Previous abuses of both groups include mistreatment of religious and ethnic minorities including violence, forced displacement, as well as destruction of cultural and religious heritage."

The United Nations' Commission of Inquiry on Syria has accused HTS of committing executions, torture, the use of sexual violence, and destroying or vandalizing non-Islamic religious sites. "These actions are reminiscent of the harsh rule experienced during their previous control from 2012 to 2016," reports The Christian Post.

The Maronite Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo, Joseph Tobji, reports that, even now, the militants have begun removing Christmas decorations.

"Before Syria's civil war began, Aleppo was one of Syria's most Christian cities. Out of a prewar population of around 2 million, around 200,000 were Christians. Today, only about 20,000 Christians live in Aleppo," noted Christian Solidarity International. Islamists believe that Christians in their lands "should be made dhimmis - a protected people who are kept in legal subjugation and pay an additional tax called the jizya."

HTS Leader: 'Allahu Akhbar!'

After coming to power, al-Jawlani gave a speech calling his triumph a victory for "the entire Islamic nation," signaling his broader identification with the broader Islamic world.

"Today, Syria is purified, thanks to Allah almighty, then thanks to God almighty, then thanks to the heroic mujahideen," he said.

Al-Jawlani concluded by yelling, "Allahu akhbar!"

"Jolani's assurances that his new regime in Syria will only 'go local' with its concerns and respect the rights of all of Syria's minorities rings hollow. It's reminiscent of Stalin's 'Socialism in One Country' or Mao's 'Agrarian Marxism.' It's a distinction w/o a difference," wrote Brandon Weichert. "Jolani looks like a Jihadist version of Castro. And that is precisely what he will turn Syria into. We will all rue the day that the Western intelligence services, along with Turkey, decided to empower such bandits rather than kill them," concluded Weichert.

Terror experts agree the taking of Damascus is a stepping-stone toward broader Islamic domination of the region and, eventually, the world. "This group is an al-Qaeda branch," former CIA analyst Fred Fleitz told Greg Kelly of Newsmax on Monday. "Remember what happened in Iraq when we displaced a dictator without thinking about what would come after him."

"These are jihadists," agreed terrorism expert Walid Phares. They will not attack the broader region yet, "because now they're building their government," he said. But "there will be a time, there will be a day, when they turn their guns against us."

Despite these signs of extremism and Ukraine's supporting role in bringing it to Damascus, the Biden administration appears to be expediting the transfer of U.S. funds to Ukraine as quickly as possible before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Saturday that the Biden administration is sending a $988 million aid package to Ukraine. The latest check comes just days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken unveiled another $725 million weapons package to expand Ukraine's losing war with Russia, including the use of anti-personnel landmines.

Canada, too, is pitching in the Ukrainian war effort in its own way: Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced Thursday that Canada would ban an additional 324 varieties of firearms -- and Defense Minister Bill Blair said he may send them to Ukraine. "Every bit of assistance we can offer to the Ukrainians is one step toward their victory," claimed Blair.

The military aid packages will go forward despite a recent, underreported Gallup poll finding that a majority (52%) of Ukrainians support an expedited, negotiated peace settlement to the Russian war ASAP. ("So the people of Ukraine will now be billed as Putin apologists by CNN," quipped Mollie Hemingway, editor of The Federalist.)

The Biden administration warns the takeover by jihadists may draw U.S. troops further into the Middle Eastern quagmire. "The 900 U.S. soldiers in Syria are there to help the [Syrian Democratic Forces] contain ISIS, but there is a possibility that this mission may become more urgent," Steven Cook, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Semafor. The "collapse of the Syrian government could lead to a resurgence of extremism in the country," Semafor reported.

That Islamic extremism will target our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ. And they will likely do so with our tax dollars, unless the incoming administration puts a stop to the aid at once.

Originally published at The Washington Stand