US ‘prepared Syrian rebel group to help topple Bashar al-Assad’

The United States prepared a rebel force to join the offensive that overthrew the regime of Bashar al-Assad, fighters have claimed.

British and American-trained fighters in the Revolutionary Commando Army (RCA), a group aligned against Islamic State, were told “this is your moment” in a briefing by US Special Forces before Assad was ousted.

In the first indication that Washington had prior knowledge of the offensive, the RCA revealed it had been told to scale-up its forces and “be ready” for an attack that could lead to the end of the Assad regime.

 

 

“They did not tell us how it would happen,” Capt Bashar al-Mashadani, an RCA commander, told The Telegraph from a former Syrian army air base used by Russia on the outskirts of the city of Palmyra.

“We were just told: ‘Everything is about to change. This is your moment. Either Assad will fall, or you will fall.’ But they did not say when or where, they just told us to be ready.” 

Having worked with the RCA to dismantle the Islamic State’s Syrian caliphate, the US still pays its fighters a salary to prevent the terror group’s resurgence.

In the weeks before the briefing at the US-controlled Al-Tanf air base on the border of Iraq, according to Capt Mashadani, the RCA’s ranks were swollen by smaller freelance units like his brought under its command.

As the main rebel force swept south to Damascus in a lightning offensive towards the end of last month, the RCA advanced out of Al Tanf and now occupies roughly one fifth of the country, including pockets of territory in the north of the capital.

US military commanders in Syria ordered the advance to prevent remnants of Isis – which occupied much of the north-east of the country until its defeat in 2019, taking advantage of a power vacuum if Assad fell – senior RCA officers said.

Full report:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/12/18/us-prepared-syrian-rebel-group-to-help-topple-bashar-assad/