WASHINGTON – The prospect of Russia becoming a channel between Saudi Arabia and Syria to fight ISIS has raised the concerns of a retired U.S. general who backs the Free Syrian Army, which seeks to overthrow the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in June met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – the young Saudi minister of defense whose father is King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud – to discuss the possibility of setting up an alliance to fight ISIS.
Until now, the Saudis, who propagate the strict Sunni Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, have been a major financial supporter of ISIS. As it fights Assad, a Shiite Alawite backed by Shia Iran, ISIS already rules large portions of Syria and Iraq that it claims as a caliphate subject to strict Islamic law, or Shariah.
Moscow seeks an alliance with the Saudis that would include Syrian neighbors that want to oust Assad, such as Turkey, whose leadership regards itself as moderate Sunni.
Ankara has made it clear that its priority is to fight Assad and not ISIS. Turkey cooperates with ISIS on the economic and military front by allowing its territory to be an access point into Syria and to buy at half the international market price oil from wells the jihadi group has captured in Syria.
Get the rest of this, and other, reports from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
For retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely, such a development signals the end of the Free Syrian Army, which he has backed over the past three years against the Assad government.
He said the FSA no longer represents the Syrian opposition, which has been taken over by ISIS and other jihadist groups.
“The Syrian opposition forces – they’re pretty much diluted now – and what was once the Free Syrian Army, many have become disillusioned and left or have been forced because of threats to their families and themselves to join ISIS or al-Qaida against Assad,” Vallely told G2 Bulletin in an interview.
Two years ago, a Chechen al-Qaida leader in Syria threatened in a video to behead Vallely because of his efforts to get the U.S. government to provide weapons to the FSA to fight Assad.
Al-Qaida saw Vallely as a threat to extend U.S. influence in the effort to oust Assad.
“When you talk about the opposition anymore,” Vallely said, the Free Syrian Army “is no longer a viable entity.”
Get the rest of this, and other, reports from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
