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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 6/11/13

The West to pay a high price for targeting the Syrian government, Security experts claim

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The West to pay a high price for targeting the Syrian government, Security experts claim

 

Franklin Lamb

Beirut

A number of analysts and security experts who specialize in intelligence and security subjects in Lebanon and France have expressed   this week shock at the way many Western authorities ,   including several in Europe and the United States, are avoiding engagement with the Syrian authorities and thus missing important avenues to help end the crisis in Syria .

This dismay follows increasing evidence of the grave dangers now threatening to turn Syria into a main operations base for anti-Western and anti-sectarian international jihadist groups and organizations. Some specialists   spoke to " Afrique Asie " recently and expressed   surprise and concern that authorities in the United States and Europe are deliberately ignoring the daily warnings sent out by intelligence and security organizations in those countries including the Intelligence Community in the US with is comprised of the 16 American intelligence organizations , also referred to as " elements " .   These are the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), United States Department of Defense , Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Security Agency (NSA), National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency (AFISRA), Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), Marine Corps Intelligence Activity (MCIA), Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), United States Department of Energy , Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (OICI), United States Department of Homeland Security , Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A), Coast Guard Intelligence (CGI), United States Department of Justice , Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration , Office of National Security Intelligence (DEA/ONSI), United States Department of State , Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), United States Department of the Treasury , and the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI).

One of France's leading experts on terrorism , who visited Libya and Syria after the start of the turbulences, concluded:

"It is understandable that the that authorities in the United States and Europe are deliberately exploiting the Syrian revolution to punish President Bashar Al-Assad for his policies of siding with Iran and supporting organizations, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, that pose threats on Israeli security. However, the real strangeness lies in the fact that those nations are continuing to provide support, weaponry, military training and funding to the Syrian opposition and the media, with their knowledge that the class dominating the armed Syrian opposition is that of Al-Nusra terrorists who are closely affiliated with Al-Qaeda."

Discussing the reasons preventing those authorities from changing their stance , the acknowledge expert concluded that Western political authorities, including the White House, believe that the Salafist movement's attacks can be controlled through countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Hitherto, the relationship with Bashar Al-Assad has proven his independence as well as his adherence to the policies that bound him to Iran and other anti-Israeli organizations. However, French, European and American security officials perceive this differently.

Most Western intelligence apparatuses sounded out their danger sirens pointing to the necessity of cooperating with Syrian security authorities. This is because the Syrian intelligence is still considered the most effective party facing Salafist movements in the Middle East, and the Syrian army is fighting "terrorist/jihadists" on a daily basis.   In this context, the Syrian intelligence never lost the penetrations it had into Al -Qaeda and other Syria-based Salafist movements as part of it work of planning to neutralize future terrorist attacks. To this end, Syrian intelligence committed substantial resources and senior officers in pursuit of international terrorists who are currently based in Syria, but who are laying the groundwork for terrorist attacks soon to be executed in European capitals.

While the United States and its Western allies are offering military, media , financial and political aid to the armed opposition in Syria, allied with Al-Qaeda and like movements, the Syrian intelligence continues to fight against terrorism on behalf of the world, but with no assistance from countries whose interests and people they are work to protect.

One expert posed a rhetorical question, "Imagine that an assassination as big as that of the "Crisis Cell" officers in Syria was executed during the time when we discovered that among the victims was one of the most cooperative Syrian people with the French intelligence services in the fight against terrorism. And what have we done to protect it? Nothing."   However, as the Syrian story puts it, the Americans might well have been involved with his assassination.

In addition to the death of the "Crisis Cell" officers, in July of 2012, in a complex security operation widely believed to have been executed by the Syrian opposition, Western authorities are in pursuit of Syrians officers who helped save the lives of thousands of French and other Europeans over the past years. It is worthy to note here that one of those officers was wounded and almost killed while he was defending Western embassies under attack by" terrorists."

When the scholar was asked whom he meant by this and replied:   "It is obvious Colonel Hafez Makhlouf, the competent expert in combating Salafist terrorism who currently resides in Syria. It was through the efforts of officer Makhlouf that the Syrian authorities captured a number of terrorist cells, and thus, thwarted major operations that were being prepared for execution in Europe in general, and specifically in France."

For his part, the security expert and former Lebanese Army General Elias Farhat, argued recently that security operations targeting senior Syrian officers do not only affect Syrian security, but are undermine operations for weakening international security and strengthening terrorists around the world. This is because the Syrian role is viewed even by the US Intelligence Community as being effective in fighting "international terrorism", and had it not been for the cooperation the Syrians provided to Western security services, "terrorist organizations" would have succeeded in many attacks on European capitals.

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Since 2013, Professor Franklin P. Lamb has traveled extensively throughout Syria. His primary focus has been to document, photograph, research and hopefully help preserve the vast and irreplaceable archaeological sites and artifacts in (more...)
 

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