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Syria – The U.S. Controlled Al-Tanf Serves As ‘ISIS’ Base – Truth Or Propaganda?
[source: https://www.moonofalabama.org/2021/01/syria-the-us-controlled-al-tanf-serves-as-isis-base-truth-or-propaganda.html]
Many questions remain unanswered about the al-Tanf United States base in the Syrian desert, that is called illegal by the Syrian government and Russia. Why is al-Tanf so important to the US? What are the US soldiers still doing there? Who else are hosted in the al-Tanf pocket? Why is ISIS growing again? Is al-Tanf really a launching pad for ISIS attacks in the region?
Why is the al-Tanf base so important to the US?
The al-Tanf base is located in the al-Tanf pocket, at about 20km of the al-Tanf border crossing. It’s 55 km-deconfliction zone is located along the border with Iraq and Jordan, and cuts off the Baghdad-Damascus highway. By controlling this highway, the United States ensures that Iranian deliveries to the Syrian capital Damascus cannot take place by land. This is of high strategic importance to the US, because Iranian shipments and air deliveries are much easier intercepted, and form an easy target to Israeli airstrikes.
The US-led coalition forces use al-Tanf as an entrance point to launch operations into Syria. The base can be easily reached from both Baghdad and Jordan. Both the Syrian government and Russian officials have repeatedly stated that the al-Tanf zone are being used by terrorist groups active in the region, as a safe haven and a foothold to carry out attacks on government-held areas and Iranian proxy-groups in the Bukamal area. This ‘ISIS rear base’ has been actively protected by the forces stationed at al-Tanf, which threaten any deployment of the Syrian Arab Army, Iranian proxy-groups and Russian forces close to the al-Tanf zone. The formal justification given by the US surrounding these actions is that Syrian government troops as well as Iranian-backed forces in Syria pose a threat to US-backed ‘less-radical’ rebel groups and US troops deployed at the garrison.
Oil, Rebels, Iran, Chaos and Leverage
Many allegations exist surrounding the activities of the US soldiers present at al-Tanf, even though the Trump-administration claimed it wanted to pull back troops from Syria and victory had been announced over ISIS.
One of the reasons is the presence of US-backed ‘rebel’ groups such as Maghweer al-Thora. According to an OIR inspector general report released Aug. 4. 2020, OIR officials want to want to double the size of US-proxy forces in Syria and finish training a 2,200-man “oilfield guard” unit there.
The same report also mentions the oil revenues of the area. US-backed forces likely produced at least 30,000 barrels of oil per day, garnering nearly $3 million a day in revenue, until the recent price collapse. “Although US-backed Kurdish forces have “bolstered” their “security presence near major oil and gas fields in northeastern Syria,” they have “remained co-located with Coalition forces whose protection SDF leaders still depend on,” the IG report also reads, reminding us of the cooperation of a shady US oil company partnering up with the Kurdish-led SDF to refine and sell Syria’s oil. The Kurdish-led SDF occupies a great part of the country’s wheat fields and the majority of Syria’s oilfields, and thus actively threaten Syria’s economy. Another reason the US government might utter are ‘humanitarian reasons’ As there are 10.000 refugees and Bedouins living inside the deconfliction zone, which is heavily infiltrated by ISIS militants and said to be a launching pad for ‘ISIS’ attacks by Syrian officials. US officials might utter these ‘refugees’ have been under US protection for years now, and leaving them behind might put them in danger, so they must stay.
Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, acknowledged the base’s strategic importance in countering the sway of Iran. He was quoted as following: “Al Tanf’s location is also central to its role in preventing the Iranians from gaining a firmer foothold in the region. The base sits in the heart of what Iran hopes will be part of a “Shia Crescent,” a continuous land bridge linking Iran through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon.” US officials have also uttered that their presence at al-Tanf could form leverage in the negotiations on the outcome of the conflict. As Syria, Russia, Turkey and Iran all want the United States to leave Syria, it might give them some leverage when Syria’s future will be formed.
Maghaweer al-Thowra, liberated ISIS prisoners, and the British SAS
As mentioned earlier, the rebel group “Revolutionary Commando Army” or ‘Maghaweer al-Thowra’ is hosted in the al-Tanf pocket, they are called ‘less-radical’ are trained by US soldiers to fight in anti-ISIS operations. Yet, defects of the group have claimed that ‘U.S. troops at Al-Tanf base sold weapons to ISIS in Syria’ and use the group to hinder operations of the Syrian Arab Army and Iranian proxies in the area instead.
“American instructors trained them to carry out sabotage at oil and transport infrastructure, as well as for terrorist acts in the Syrian government-controlled territories,” state another group of defectors of Maghaweer al-Thowra. In addition to US-backed rebel groups, it is also stated that former ISIS militants are being hosted in the al-Tanf pocket. Though the US forces have not denied that ISIS militants may have infiltrated the refugees there, multiple reports state that ISIS prisoners released by Kurdish officials have been massively transported to the US military base. Western forces are being host in the al-Tanf base as well. The British special forces SAS have been operating alongside US forces and Syrian ‘rebels’ since 2016 in operations hidden from the public. The British covert operation started as early as 2011, when the British were assisting the earliest Syrian ‘rebels’ and assessing their needs to overthrow Syrian president Assad. The SAS began actively training the ‘rebels’ fighting Assad from bases in Jordan in 2012. At the same time, the SAS also began “slipping into Syria on missions”. That the rebels they supported had strong affiliations with ISIS did not matter to them. The Free Syrian Army that was supported in the British operation, was in effect allied to IS until the end of 2013 and was collaborating with it on the battlefield until 2014, despite tensions between the groups. “We have good relations with our brothers in the FSA,” ISIS leader Abu Atheer said in 2013, having bought arms from the FSA.
In 2015, reports started to emerge of SAS fighters dressed as ISIS militants and waving the black flag, while at the same time continuing operations against the Syrian Arab Army.
Other reports show that the SAS has been actively training and fighting alongside the Kurdish-led SDF. British special forces continue to operate on the ground in Syria in 2019 and are reported to number at least 120 soldiers, as a new cyber unit was announced that ‘was created to take on Russian and Chinese battle tech’ and ‘also track down remaining ISIS commanders’. In 2020, the SAS has continued ‘secret manoeuvres’ in Syria. They have also fought alongside the Kurdish-led SDF and were clad in Burkas during operations in the area. Reports by British media also state that the forces will also be deployed to hinder Russia’s and Iran’s covert activities. SAS forces are stationed in Jordan and al-Tanf.
SAS fighters (source: Pinterest.com)
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Attacks claimed by ISIS in both Iraq and Syria have increased significantly in 2020, demonstrating both a capacity and a willingness on ISIS’s part to continue attacks and retake territory, support in the area, and resources. ISIS has led a steady beat of assassinations, ambushes, and bombings in eastern Syria in 2020, and is responsible for the deaths of a number of regime and SDF forces. By August, 126 attacks by ISIS across Syria were reported for 2020 — compared to 144 in all of 2019. Reasons mentioned for the ISIS resurgence in Syria are to be found in several complex situations. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have released more than 600 ISIS fighters and 15.000 ISIS-supporters from al-Hol camp. In addition, 785 ISIS fighters escaped from Ayn Issa during Turkish shelling, and about 100 hardcore ISIS-militants have reportedly escaped from ISIS-prisons.
ISIS prisoners in Hasakah (source: Rudaw)
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Is al-Tanf really a launching pad for ISIS attacks in the region?
The controversial al-Tanf base is mentioned as a launching pad for ISIS attacks in the region by many sides. All sides seem to agree that dubious attacks – claimed to be committed by ISIS – seem to be launched from the al-Tanf pocket.
The al-Tanf pocket hosts ISIS-affiliated refugees and militias like Maghaweer al-Thowra, that have cooperated with ISIS and use quite the same modus operandi. These groups still receive training by US soldiers today.
It is undeniable that escaped or released ISIS fighters may have rejoined the group. Released jihadists often return to ISIS or similar groups.
British SAS forces remain operative in the reason, and are stationed in Jordan and al-Tanf, from where they launch operations. Little is known about their activities in Syria, as the SAS is exempt from freedom of information laws and operates under a strict “no comment” policy. Secrecy around the corps is pervasive.
Statements of defectors, Russian government officials and Syrian government officials, and other signs explained in this article all point in the same direction; that al-Tanf has become the launching pad of dubious activities in the region. They allege US-sponsored ISIS factions, US-backed rebel groups, or secretive SAS operations are behind the attacks.
Proving these allegations or distinguishing the real perpetrator is very hard, yet all evidence points at al-Tanf. And even if proven, accusations will remain unheard by the larger public. Yet, when arguing about this growing threat, one must take the US military’s earlier actions in the Middle East in mind. The US has a long history of state-sponsored terrorism, and cooperation with terrorist- and radical jihadist groups. Proof of these operations often only shows up years after. And I myself will not be surprised if – one day – news about a clandestine ISIS-US cooperation appears in the media through leaks or whistle blowers, books will be written, and documentaries will be made.
Posted by b on January 29, 2021 at 10:44 UTC | Permalink
[end]
…..My articles on ISIS — and the Mossad
…..Comments on the article
How can a U.S. citizen even respond? U.S. Intel agency secrets. CENTCOM’s treason, the nation’s complicity in another eternal war for Israel. It’s just too sad to comment about. Maybe voting and the law will fix this mess.
Posted by: PavewayIV | Jan 29 2021 11:31 utc | 2
If the Syrian government say something inside Syria is illegal then that’s what it is because they are the Syrian government.What’s this ‘regime’ you talk about? Is it the American one?
Posted by: Johny Conspiranoid | Jan 29 2021 11:47 utc | 3
I’m pretty sure one important function of that military base is to block an important road from Iran to Iraq to Lebanon.
Breaking the so-called Shia Crescent, more or less the main geopolitical purpose of the whole Syrian operation of the last decade. And still ongoing.
Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Jan 29 2021 11:51 utc | 4
“Many questions remain unanswered about the al-Tanf United States base in the Syrian desert, that is called illegal by the Syrian government and Russia.”
It’s probably unintentional but this phrasing is similar to what the NYT and WaPo use when they want to cast doubt on a claim made by US “adversaries.”
The fact is, the al-Tanf base is unquestionably illegal because the US is in Syria without Damascus’ consent. It is an occupation force but no war was declared nor did the UN authorize the occupation. This makes it illegal under international law no matter what anyone says or doesn’t say about it.
Posted by: Temporarily Sane | Jan 29 2021 11:53 utc | 5
This same article was published on Southfront a day or two ago.
https://southfront.org/isis-in-al-tanf-propaganda-or-reality/
It also says “Written by Hedwig Kuijpers exclusively for SouthFront”
I find it strange MoA makes no mention of Southfront at all?
Posted by: Et Tu | Jan 29 2021 12:13 utc | 6
Not only is the US/UK military occupation of Syrian sovereign territory illegal but the ‘pillage’ of Syrian oil is also illegal and prohibited by the Hague Conventions. This has been customary international law for over one hundred years.
So much for the fabled ‘ruled based international order’ a phrase which is recited by rote and trumpeted endlessly by the self same Anglo/Zionists. As if saying the phrase means doing it.
These war criminals will stop at nothing in the service of bandit state.
Posted by: Paul | Jan 29 2021 12:34 utc | 7
The SAS ought to be designated publicly as a “terrorist entity” by the Syrians and their backers.
I note that some of the targets mentioned are tribal leaders. If my memory serves me correctly the Shaihtah* tribe near Al Bukamal-Al Mayadin and whose original territory was on the Eastern side of the river, lost 750 people massacred by ISIS and who have now become (part of?) the SDF. Mainly Women and children of course. It won’t change much if Tribal leaders are assassinated, as the tribe as a whole will remember. That is what Tribal afffinities are for.
* “Shaitah” is an approximative spelling !
Posted by: Stonebird | Jan 29 2021 13:00 utc | 8
Always with the USA and England colluding with ISIS against Assad. Don’t you people read outside your comfort zone?
Under Obama: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/obama-expands-isis-bombing-campaign-to-fourth-country-media-barely-notices/
Under Trump: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/1/3/us-intensifies-bombing-in-syria-after-trump-announced-withdrawal
Posted by: Louis N Proyect | Jan 29 2021 13:04 utc | 9
Another reason for ISIS’ opportunity to grow are the flaring tensions between the SDF and tribal forces in Deir ez-Zor, after the assassinations of several powerful Arab tribal leaders. The SDF blamed the Syrian government, Turkey, Iran and their respective local allies of using certain elements in Deir ez-Zor to cause instability. Though in 2019, victory over ISIS was declared after the last ISIS stronghold was retaken in the battle for Baghouz, the amount of ISIS attacks has seemed to have risen. Maps made by Gregory Waters show the exact location of the ISIS attacks, and how the location of the attacks suddenly spread from the al-Tanf/al-Bukamal axis to the Deir ez-Zor-Uqayribat axis (ISIS stronghold that was liberated by the Syrian Arab Army in 2017) in 2020, as well as multiplying and intensifying by orders of magnitude.
One factor may be the direct consequence of the other: ISIS was defeated as a regular force, so now they’re scattered around East Syria doing the more traditional terrorist attacks.
It also says “Written by Hedwig Kuijpers exclusively for SouthFront”I find it strange MoA makes no mention of Southfront at all?Hedwig had send me the piece two days and asked me to publish it. I did not know that it was on South Front. Nor do I know about anything “exclusive”.
How can a U.S. citizen even respond? U.S. Intel agency secrets. CENTCOM’s treason, the nation’s complicity in another eternal war for Israel. It’s just too sad to comment about. Maybe voting and the law will fix this mess.
Posted by: PavewayIV | Jan 29 2021 11:31 utc | 2
I think maybe its time to rethink is it actually the nation state of Israel, OR is it that the Nation State of Israel is the same as the Nation State of the USA, a warrior, pawn and get it done group that both holds captive its citizens by rule of law and that serves the will and wishes of the Oligarch..
Oligarchary has gone global. They are in control of the top of nearly all governments and they privately own (92% owned by just 6 entities) the media (the ninth tier in the 9 tier model) At the top and at the bottom they have what it takes to keep divided the populations so the deplorable cannot effectively organize. Until someone comes up with a way to overcome the divided nation,nothing effective is likely to surface. Nation states are the pawns, the war machine (leg breakers) that keep the Oligarch familes wealthy.. forget the nation state as the center of power, the nation state is not, the center of power is invisible, the nation state is just the war machine, and law making machine and the wealth extraction machine the oligarch depend on to keep their wealth and to deny the deplorable their chance at the good life.
One of the biggest challenges to democracy lay in the copyright and patent monopolies. these monopolies are creatures of the rule of law, without law there can be no privately owned monopolies. as of Oct 1, it is reported that 90% of the balance sheets of the traded companies is either patents or copyrights. that only leaves 10% for physical assets. Rule of law, without effective input from those who are the governed, is the enemy of the deplorable and the supression of Democracy, Independence of mind, thought and deed.
If you removed the laws that enable copyright and patents, overnight some mighty big corporate enterprises would be broke.
Posted by: snake | Jan 29 2021 13:52 utc | 12
Who is ISIS attacking the most? according to the NATO funded
SOHR Syrian Observatory of Human Rights
“Since 24th of March 2019, SOHR has documented the killing of at least 1,221 regime soldiers [and allies]”
My question to you is this, how many SDF [Kurdish soldiers] have ISIS killed over that time frame? [not rhetorical, I don’t know the answer, I’d like to know]
A disparity of numbers will tell you who ISIS sees as their biggest enemy.
[If I ask a rhetorical question, I’ll throw in a pompous, ‘again I ask’ at the end.]
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Jan 29 2021 13:58 utc | 13
“Maybe voting and the law will fix this mess.”
Posted by: PavewayIV | Jan 29 2021 11:31 utc | 2
=======
Who are you gonna vote for? Tweedledum or tweedledee?
Posted by: Nathan Mulcahy | Jan 29 2021 14:16 utc | 14
Slightly OT: conspiracy theories Marjorie Taylor Greene
1. Parkland shooting was staged to undermine gun rights, 2. laser beam fired from space to help high speed rail in CA
Why do people so quickly embrace such far fetched explanations?
1. the theory has to give a conclusion that the listener wants to believe, ‘my rights are being threatened by powerful people, bad people’. 2. It only requires plausibility, not proof, or a friends approval.
Back to this topic earlier, I said that ISIS considers the govt of Syria a bigger enemy than the SDF because they have attacked the SAA thousands of times, and I only see a few against the SDF.
I did not start with, ‘Israel and the U.S. is in an alliance w/ISIS’ to explain the same set of facts. I would say that the U.S. and Israel are more interested in hurting the Syrian govt even if it helps ISIS but that does not require a conspiracy.
I know this is pedantic. But I am fascinated by people who jump off the ledge and I’m trying to understand where the line is or if people have other observations.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Jan 29 2021 14:36 utc | 15
PavewayIV @2: “Maybe voting and the law will fix this mess.”
That sarcasm is much to dark for this bright and sunny morning.
Posted by: William Gruff | Jan 29 2021 15:37 utc | 17
Louis N Proyect @Jan29 13:04 #9 shows up to administer ideological policing to “you people” that think outside of the carefully constructed “comfort zone” of media narratives.
But moa readers have seen how fake these narratives have been with psyops like the White Helmets. And we have not forgotten the “Obama Administration’s” “willful choice” to let ISIS rise after Russia prevented USA from bombing Syria in 2013.
Furthermore, we have noticed that ISIS never attacks Israel. And we can see that ISIS’ continuing existence in Syria is crucial to USA’s ability to legally remain in Syria under UN Resolution 2249.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 29 2021 16:10 utc | 18
Posted by: Louis N Proyect | Jan 29 2021 13:04 utc | 9
Always with the USA and England colluding with ISIS against Assad. Don’t you people read outside your comfort zone?
Good to see *you* showing up on MoA to read outside your ‘comfort zone’ …
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 29 2021 16:58 utc | 19
JR @ 182249 does not remotely give USA legal cover. If you read only half the resolution while attempting to reason with the mind of a petulant child you could construct a rationale, but your older brother would see through that rationale in a second.Yes, US diplomats often reason like small children. Let us not assist them.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jan 29 2021 17:04 utc | 20
They say the bigger they are the harder they fall. In the end, after the fall, after the ‘truth commissions’ and investigations, and post-apocalyptic introspection, the citizens of Empire will live in the shame of a humanity that worshiped greed as a religion, and practiced inhumanity to humans as simply another course in a feast. Meanwhile the billions of victims of Empire will dance, sing and rejoice as the current imperial project of the lizard-people sinks beneath the waves to join another in a long line of human empires that misunderstood the meaning of life.
Posted by: gottlieb | Jan 29 2021 17:08 utc | 21
How much loot does the US military industrial complex make every 24 hours on the ground?
Oiligopoly not included….
Asking for a friend
Posted by: Dogon Priest | Jan 29 2021 17:09 utc | 22
The acronym ought to be ISUS or USIS. Of course, al-Tanf is a terrorist base, the terrorists primarily being forces of the Outlaw US Empire and its main accomplice. Accepting that as fact, we must then determine WHY? What is the overall aim? If Hudson’s correct about the overall geopolitical aims of the Parasitical Neoliberal Fascists running the Outlaw US Empire and its NATO vassals, then we’ve known the answer for quite awhile. The following is what Hudson has distilled it to:
“All economic systems seek to internationalize themselves and extend their rule throughout the world. Today’s revived Cold War should be understood as a fight between what kind of economic system the world will have. Finance capitalism is fighting against nations that restrict its intrusive dynamics and sponsorship of privatization and dismantling of public regulatory power. Unlike industrial capitalism, the rentier aim is not to become a more productive economy by producing goods and selling them at a lower cost than competitors. Finance capitalism’s dynamics are globalist, seeking to use international organizations (the IMF, NATO, the World Bank and U.S.-designed trade and investment sanctions) to overrule national governments that are not controlled by the rentier classes. The aim is to make all economies into finance-capitalist layers of hereditary privilege, imposing anti-labor austerity policies to squeeze a dollarized surplus.
“Industrial capitalism’s resistance to this international pressure is necessarily nationalist, because it needs state subsidy and laws to tax and regulate the FIRE sector. But it is losing the fight to finance capitalism, which is turning to be its nemesis just as industrial capitalism was the nemesis of post-feudal landlordship and predatory banking. Industrial capitalism requires state subsidy and infrastructure investment, along with regulatory and taxing power to check the incursion of finance capital. The resulting global conflict is between socialism (the natural evolution of industrial capitalism) and a pro-rentier fascism, a state-finance-capitalist reaction against socialism’s mobilization of state power to roll back the post-feudal rentier interests.” [My Emphasis]
The situation in Syria and Iraq represent the kinetic edge of what’s mostly a Cold War globally. It’s noted that some of the Parasitical organizations have powers equal to some nation-states and that the main underlying aim is the weakening of governments’s abilities to regulate them. The pandemic has weakened a great many nations while the Parasites have grown stronger as they get massive transfusions from the Fed. Thus it seems very plausible that given their motive, the Parasites spawned the pandemic, not this or that government. We watched as those forces operated independently of Trump by disobeying his orders, and now we have further understanding of why the so-called Forever Wars. We can also understand the real motive for 911 was the destruction of evidence at Building 7 and the Pentagon that would’ve gravely injured the Parasites while also providing a covering reason for launching the Forever Wars. IMO, the only way the Outlaw US Empire will leave the areas it occupies is if its physically ousted–Korea, Japan, Europe, Afghanistan, Southwest Asia. It ought to be possible to now see how Full Spectrum Domination can be obtained without a military conflict, as well as the real reasons behind the demonization of China and Russia.
Both Putin and Xi told Davos and the Parasites that they’re committed to their development path which is completely at odds with what the Parasites desire. IMO, the global masses would agree with both and join them if they knew what they said. We can also see why the attack on the Ummah, which is the Islamic global collective that adheres to the values that promote the collective, not the Parasites that would feed on it. And we just witnessed how the Parasites are able to quickly counter any concerted effort to disciple them, which also served the purpose of outing Big Tech as an enemy of the collective. Cold War or Class War? The difference between them is close to indistinguishable.
No matter how frustrated I may get with some comments.
I always leave with a smile.
I always find some point of agreement with every poster.
I have learned more here than in my entire academic career. I rarely post because I cannot add. I love the tactful and the witty. I do admire those that have come here ‘out of their comfort zone’. It all begins somewhere.
Posted by: ld | Jan 29 2021 17:38 utc | 24
No surprise to hear that all of a sudden, and so soon after Joe Biden’s inauguration as US President, Syria is coming back into the United States’ target sights. The team that used to advise O’Bomber on his Middle East policy must have all come back and are probably also being paid bigger bucks for the next four-year cycle.
Posted by: Jen | Jan 29 2021 11:01 utc | 1