CIA freezes support program for Syrian rebels

The CIA has frozen a program to support the rebels from the Free Syrian Army (FSA), who control territories in northwestern Syria. This is reported by Reuters, citing sources among the rebels and in the US government.

This is a program with the participation of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, in which the rebels received money and ammunition, as well as military training. A representative of one of the groups reported that no assistance was received in February; another source told the agency about the cancellation of the next meeting with program participants.

According to US government sources, the freezing of the program is related to the attacks by radical Islamists on groups from the FSA, which began in January 2017. Then it was reported that the terrorist group "Fatah al-Sham" (the former "Front al-Nusra") launched an attack on the formation of the rebels participating in the peace talks.

According to Reuters, this forced some of the rebels to join the Islamists from Ahrar al-Sham. In this regard, the United States fears that the aid supplied by the FSA will fall into the hands of more radical groups, as has repeatedly happened before, the agency writes.

US government sources stressed that the decision to freeze is not related to the start of the new US presidential administration.

Reuters notes that the program, with the participation of the CIA, is not the only channel for supporting the rebels in Syria; assistance to formations from the FSA is provided by Turkey, which is conducting a military operation in the north of the country, as well as by Jordan.

• The civil war in Syria has been going on since 2011. The government army is opposed by rebel groups (including those from the FSA), Islamist organizations (including the Islamic State and Fatah al-Sham recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation), as well as Kurdish military formations.
• In December 2016, another truce was announced in Syria, organized with the participation of Russia and Turkey (Moscow supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the conflict, Ankara supports the rebels). This was preceded by the capture of the city of Aleppo by government troops, part of which was held by the rebels for several years; The operation was carried out with the participation of the Russian armed forces.
• After that, negotiations on a peaceful settlement were organized in Astana and Geneva. Fighting against terrorists in the country continues.