During the last two months, there have been armed clashes between two Syrian rebel factions on the northern outskirts of Aleppo.\u00a0 The area is contested territory, and apparently both factions want to possess it.<\/p>\n
One of the groups is called Fursan al Haq<\/em>, or “Knights of Righteousness”. They previously controlled the territory, but in February were displaced by “Syrian Democratic Forces” that moved into the area from the east.<\/p>\n This wasn’t an isolated occurrence, either.\u00a0 Similar clashes have been reported earlier this month in the town of Azaz, and in Aleppo\u2019s Sheikh Maqsud<\/em> neighborhood.<\/p>\n Here’s the “punch line”:\u00a0 Fursan al Haq<\/em> is backed – an armed – by the CIA.\u00a0 The Syrian Democratic Forces?\u00a0 They’re backed and armed by the Pentagon.<\/p>\n Yeah, you read that correctly.\u00a0 Two of the Syrian rebel groups the US has backed to oppose Assad are currently fighting each other instead<\/em>.<\/p>\n Sheesh.\u00a0 When the factions we back start fighting each other<\/span>, you really have to wonder if we\u2019re backing the right groups – or if we even have a freaking clue about what’s really going on in Syria.<\/p>\n As I\u2019ve said repeatedly:\u00a0 perhaps Syria is indeed a case of, “Better the Devil you know . . . than the Devil you don’t.”\u00a0 IMO, other than countering Da’esh and its allies we have “no dog in the fight” in the Syrian Civil War.\u00a0 And had we not involved ourselves in Syria, I suspect Assad’s regime would have done a much better job taking care of Da’esh and its allies than we’ve done so far – at least in Syrian territory.<\/p>\n