U.S. Senate Committee Votes in Favor of Arming Mercenaries in Syria

nsnbc international
May 22, 2013

Widening of Syria War into a Regional War with Global Implications becoming Inevitable.

Christof Lehmann (nsnbc),- The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has passed legislation that, if signed by U.S. President Obama, approves of officially supplying weapons to what the committee describes as “The Syrian Opposition”.

According to international law the bill implies, that the U.S.A. officially becomes a conflicting party. The official approval of weapons deliveries and other aid to “the opposition” is arguably changing its status to that of a mercenary corps.

The Senate´s decision has significantly increased the likelihood of the development of a regional war with global implications and has, if it is signed  by President Obama, for the foreseeable future undermined attempts to settle the war by political means. 

The bipartisan U.S. Senate´s Foreign Relations Committee voted 15 – 3 in favor of the bill that would allow U.S. politicians to officially arm the terrorist organizations, which the USA has been directly and indirectly financing, arming and otherwise supporting since the genesis of the conflict in 2011.

Already in 2011 a whistleblower at the U.S. Special Forces at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, U.S.A. stated to nsnbc, that the USA has special forces deployed in Syria and the the USA is financing and arming the “Syrian opposition”. 

If signed by President Obama, the U.S.A. would technically become a directly involved party to the war. Arguably, the so-called opposition would receive the legal status of being a US-sponsored mercenary corps. In other words, the legal status would concur with its de facto status.

While some analysts state, that the decision would not imply significant changes on the ground because the USA has sponsored terrorists in Syria since the onset of the crisis, others predict that the new legislation implies a significant increase of arms shipments, a significant increase in recruitment efforts, a substantial increase of funding, and an inevitable widening of the war into Lebanon and Iraq.

The legislation calls to “provide defense articles, defense services, and military training” directly to the “opposition” on the ground in Syria who “have been properly and fully vetted and share common values and interests with the United States”. 

The legislation officially endorses an illegal military strategy on Syria, which a US Training Circular for Special Forces and “Foreign Students” designates as being official US military doctrine. The Training Circular, TC-18-01 explicitly states, that the US military, for the foreseeable future, would primarily be involved in unconventional warfare.

The subversion of foreign nations, as described in the TC-01 is a de-facto outline of the political and military strategy which the USA has used against the Syrian Arab Republic since 2011. The full document has previously been disclosed on nsnbc. 

It is especially the last part of the sentence, “vetted and share common values and interests with the United States”, that would also officially transform the United States into a party that is directly involved in the war by recruiting, financing and arming  mercenaries.

Belhadj – The Enemy Image

According to reliable Syrian statistics, which repeatedly have been sent to the office of U.N. Secretary Ban Kyi-moon, more than 80 per cent of the persons involved in combat operations against the Syrian military forces and the Syrian Civil Defense Forces are foreign fighters.

As documented in a previous article, much of the recruitment of these mercenary forces is being organized via Libya, under supervision of the Emir of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Abdelhakim Belhadj.

Since the US-backed coup d´etat in Libya in 2011, Abdelhakim Belhadj, who has a long history of cooperation with the British Foreign Intelligence Service MI6, Mossad and NATO Intelligence, and who according to former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar is the main responsible person for the 2004 Madrid Train Bombings that killed dozens, Abdelhakim Belhadj also functions as official Tripoli Military Governor. The largest so far documented arms shipment, including SAM-7 surface to air missiles was shipped from Libya through Turkey and into Syria. It is safe to conclude that the greatest  part of arms shipments and deployment of recruits from Libya to Syria as well as to Mali is being organized through the Belhadj network.

Belhadj, Tripoli Military Governor and Syrian Tripoli Brigade Commander in Chief

With the main body of Syria recruits being recruited through a network that is in liaison with NATO, NATO is by implication, also becoming directly involved in the Syria War if the bill is passed. In fact, some international lawyers argue that NATO´s legal status already is that of a party to the conflict due to the fact that Turkey is directly involved.

The legal implications are mind-boggling and bound to significantly worsen the crisis between Russia and the USA, the crisis between Russia and the EU, and the crisis between some EU member states, first and foremost Germany and the USA.

Most experts on US – Israeli foreign relations agree that the Israeli lobby in the USA, which has a significant influence over the majority of members of Congress, has been lobbying strongly in support of the bill. Over the course of the last month reports of direct Israeli involvement in the war have significantly increased.

Already in 2011 Israel was arming the so-called Syrian opposition through third parties in Lebanon. Most prominently among them, the Saudi-Lebanese national and chairman of the “Movement for the Future Party” Saad Hariri, and the leader of the Lebanese Druze community and chairman of the Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt. Jumblatt is known for having facilitated shipments of weapons and equipment from Israel´s Raphael Industries since 2011.

One of the few Senators who have voted against the bill was Senator Rand Paul who stated ” You will be funding today the allies of al-Qaeda…. It is an irony you cannot overcome”. Critics of Rand Paul however state that his nay-vote was cheap since it was well known that the majority would vote in favor of the bill. Others criticize Paul for being representative of double standards by not clearly stating that al-Qaeda and “The Opposition” are euphemisms for a network of NATO mercenaries who can be used as friend or foe, terrorist of freedom fighters, all and alone depending on utility.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is currently visiting Jordan to meet representatives from 11 nations. Part of the agenda will be discussions between Kerry and Russian representatives about the so-called U.S.-Russian roadmap to end the Syria crisis.

The chances for ending the war in Syrian by political means however, are becoming increasingly slim. According to some analysts, the crisis is developing a propensity toward a deterioration into a Sarajevo-like situation, where the events begin determining the decisions of the policy makers, rather than the policy makers being the ones who determine the development of the events. The odds are clearly stacked against a political resolution and overwhelmingly for a widening of the war into Lebanon and Iraq.

Russia has repeatedly warned that the material support of the terrorists in Syria violates international law, and Russian officials have warned that the passing of the legislation is one more, and a most serious violation of international law.

The Russian position always was and remains the position, that only direct talks between the Syrian government and the opposition can solve the crisis and that the arming of terrorists sabotages ongoing attempts to solve the crisis and the ongoing political reform process in Syria.

In March, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated, that “International law does not permit the supply of arms to non-governmental actors and our point of view is that it is a violation of international law” .

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