US and allies saw ISIS as strategic asset against Syria: report

Middle East, News, US May 24, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

Newly declassified US intelligence documents reveal the United States and some of its allies had foreseen and facilitated the rise of the ISIS terrorist group in Syria as a counterweight to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The conservative government watchdog group, Judicial Watch, has obtained more than 100 pages of classified documents from the US Department of Defense and State Department through a federal lawsuit.

According to one of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) documents, the West, Persian Gulf countries and Turkey explored “the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria” to affect their policies in the region.

“And this is exactly what the supporting powers to the (Syrian) opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime,” said the DIA report, formerly classified “SECRET//NOFORN” and dated August 12, 2012.

The document was circulated widely among various US government agencies, including the US Central Command, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), State Department, and many others.

The intelligence warned that any further deterioration of the Syrian conflict would have “dire consequences” on neighboring Iraq and would create the “ideal atmosphere” for al-Qaeda to return to its old pockets in Iraqi cities of Mosul and Ramadi.

The DIA report also warned that ISIS could declare a state through its union with other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria, posing “grave danger in regards to unifying Iraq and the protection of its territory.”

The classified document is the highest-level internal US intelligence confirmation that Western governments see the ISIS extremist group as a strategic asset toward “regime change” in Syria.

The ISIS terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, are engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been in chaos since ISIS started its campaign of terror in early June 2014.

Thousands of civilians have fled Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, after the city was overrun by the ISIS militants.