Assad was allied with Iran. His govt produced missiles for Hezbollah and facilitated transport of weapons and other supplies into Lebanon. Hezbollah militias were fighting in Syria against the ISIS and against the rebels who eventually took over the country.

Ag In Ok said:

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I'm not certain Obama ordered it or the CIA told Obama this is what he "ordered".

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Brennan seems more directly responsible if going that route. Certainly he and Kerry were enabling it.

You may be right, again I dunno. But I'd never heard the name and apparently it was a real project, with a huge budget and terrible 'partners.'

Operation Timber Sycamore was CIA program to arm and train rebels seeking to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, beginning in 2012.

It cost over $1bn a year, among CIA’s most expensive covert operations since mujahideen in 1980s Afghanistan.

UK, Saudi, Qatar and Jordan were partners. pic.twitter.com/KG8EUzMFPz

— Matt Kennard (@kennardmatt) December 15, 2024

Operation Timber Sycamore started in Libya, and was a CIA program through which weapons and funds were given to rebels (i.e. Al Qaeda derivatives) to overthrow Qaddafi. Once he fell, the program was moved to Syria to overthrow Assad. US is funding, arming, supporting terrorists. pic.twitter.com/XGC3479ovm

— Dr. Strangelove (@_michalis12) December 12, 2024

Quote:

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Many of the weapons were purchased in the Balkans or other locations in Eastern Europe, and then routed to Syrian rebel forces and training camps by Jordanian security services. CIA paramilitary operatives trained Syrian rebels in use of the weaponry. According to Charles Lister at The Daily Beast there were at least 50 vetted rebel groups fighting in Syria that received weapons or training through the program after late 2012; the exact number is not known.

According to American officials, the program was highly effective, training and equipping thousands of US-backed fighters to make substantial battlefield gains. American officials stated that the program began to lose effectiveness after Russia intervened militarily in the Syrian Civil War. David Ignatius, writing in The Washington Post, remarked that while the CIA program ultimately failed in its objective of removing Assad from power, it was hardly "bootless": "The program pumped many hundreds of millions of dollars to many dozens of militia groups. One knowledgeable official estimates that the CIA-backed fighters may have killed or wounded 100,000 Syrian soldiers and their allies over the past four years."

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No worries, the 'good guys' are running Syria and Libya now. From the first link above:

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The epitome of all that went wrong with US policy in Syria was Timber Sycamorea billion-dollar CIA program to arm and train Syrian rebels fighting the forces of Bashar al-Assad. Timber Sycamore ultimately failed to unseat Assad, helped turn Syria into a proxy war between the United States and Russia, and caused untold misery to the Syrian people. A three-year study funded by the European Union and the German government later established that efforts by the United States and its allies to arm Syrian rebels "significantly augmented the quantity and quality of weapons" of the Islamic State.

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AtticusMatlock said:

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Assad was allied with Iran. His govt produced missiles for Hezbollah and facilitated transport of weapons and other supplies into Lebanon. Hezbollah militias were fighting in Syria against the ISIS and against the rebels who eventually took over the country.

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How can you even pick a side in a mess like that.

Oh its real in the sense that the instability in Syria was our doing, not Russia's like he said. Its set into high gear during Obama's dumb "Arab Spring" of 2011 where he also let Mubarak being replaced by an Islamist bent Egyptian, Morsi. Not just Obama, but our neocon element was obsessed with taking down Assad (not having learned from Saddam) because a Russian ally and was quite okay with letting IS grow to its terroristic levels to accomplish that. With no regard to the Christians and non radical Muslims in the region. Remember the convoys not destroyed by air attack? Then later in the game around 2013 France and Russia actually start real counter-attacks. These too were opposed by the Kerry clique.

There's little doubt in my mind Israel was a silent partner. The wars of the last 12 years were really a regional power play between the Iranians, Turks, and the Arabs...with Russia and the US pushing for their preferred outcomes.

I certainly don't disagree with you. I've read a lot of takes about Likud etc. pushing for various components of this. I don't really know how much of that to believe, but it's been a mess. A lot of this has also led to the 'refugee crisis' that is also causing a huge mess in Europe.

Again, I am not and have not been an Assad fan but I don't know that anyone can look at this, Libya, or Iraq and conclude 'yep, that was a great investment of our tax dollars/military expertise etc.' And I am also skeptical (despite my personal loathing of the guy) Obama really came up with/supported this stuff. He's not a real smart guy and was in his own way a pawn just as with Biden.