Martin Michaels
Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the U.S. is set to double aid to the Syrian opposition, allocating an additional $123 million to help the rebels overthrow President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Since hostilities broke out March 2011, more than 70,000 people have died and more than 1 million have been displaced from their homes.
U.S. support for armed groups continues alongside crackdowns against U.S. citizens who are accused of providing individual material support for opposition groups labeled as terrorist organizations by the United States.
U.S. financial support could provide the backing rebels need to overcome the strength of the Syrian military. The supplies reportedly include armored vehicles, night vision goggles, body armor and communications gear. This elevates already robust U.S. support for rebel fighters, some of whom are suspected of being foreign jihadists, Salafists and terrorists.
Bashar al-Assad has warned that the U.S. will pay the price for its support for foreign fighters who may be terrorists. “The West uses any element, even if it is against them elsewhere,” said Bashar al-Assad in a statement earlier this month.
“They fight Al Qaeda in Mali and they support it [Al Qaeda] in Syria and in Libya, but the West doesn’t know — or perhaps it knows but is not now aware — that this terrorism will return to it and they will pay the price later in Europe and the United States.”
Despite the risk of having U.S. supplies fall into the hands of terrorists, the U.S. has taken a much harsher approach to cracking down on individual support for armed rebel groups fighting Bashar al-Assad.
Abdella Ahmad Tounisi, 19, from Aurora, Ill., was arrested at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on April 19 for allegedly planning to travel to join an al-Qaeda group fighting in Syria.
The FBI claims he was about to board a plane to Istanbul, Turkey, with plans to fight on behalf of Jabhat al-Nusrah, a group that has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda. He is being charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, a felony offense that could bring 15 years in federal prison.
Similarly, U.S. Army veteran Eric Harroun was charged in late March for his membership in Jabhat al-Nusra, a group blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the U.S.
Harroun had bragged about his role in the fighting, making several posts on Facebook touting his use of a rocket launcher to shoot down a Syrian military helicopter, and his involvement in other rebel operations. If it is determined that he killed Syrian soldiers or civilians while a part of the group, he could face the death penalty.
His defense attorney, Geremy Kamens, has argued that despite al Nusra’s close ties with al-Qaeda, the group is materially in line with U.S. interests, namely, the forceful overthrow of al-Assad in Syria. “[It is] extremely unusual for the U.S. to charge a person who is fighting in a manner that is aligned with U.S. interests,” said Kamens.
The Obama administration has publicly tried to defend its support for the rebels despite questions surrounding the true identity of U.S.-backed rebels.
“This bloodshed needs to stop,” said Kerry at a recent press conference in Istanbul. “The president directed me to step up our efforts. The stakes in Syria couldn’t be more clear: chemical weapons, the slaughter of people by ballistic missiles and other weapons of huge destruction, the potential of a whole country,” he said.
Members of the U.S. military and private security contractors have been training rebels in neighboring Jordan for the past few months. Critics worry that the influx of foreign fighters from Jihadist or radical Salafist Sunni groups could lead to a dangerous situation after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.
A study released by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR) found that up to 5,500 foreign fighters have traveled to Syria since the beginning of the uprising, 11 percent originating from European countries.
This hasn’t slowed U.S. efforts to train rebel fighters, sometimes unsure of their allegiances or pervious fighting history. Der Speigel reported in March that the U.S. was training rebels in neighboring Jordan. More than 200 men have already received weapons and tactical training over the past and there are plans in the future to provide training for a total of 1,200 members of the “Free Syrian Army” in two camps in the south and the east of the country.