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Over 1,000 terrorists laid down arms and surrendered to the Syrian authorities over the past 24 hours in Daraa, the Syrian local sources also confirmed. The militants also turned over their cache of ammo to the authorities, both sources added. The development came after President Bashar al-Assad in a televised address in July pardoned all soldiers who have fled the army, saying that his words served as a general decree to relevant officials. Hundreds of gunmen have been laying down their weapons and turning themselves in to authorities in areas across the country.

Lavrov said he did not know much about the Free Syrian Army and had asked U.S. leadership for more information. "In any case, I asked [U.S. Secretary of State] John Kerry to have [the United States] give us some sort of information of where the Free Syrian Army is and who's running it," he said, according to Sputnik News.

CIA-trained Syrian rebels, who had started to make serious gains on President Bashar Assad’s forces, are now under Russian bombardment with little prospect of rescue by their American patrons, U.S. officials say. Officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, say Russia has directed parts of its airstrikes against U.S.-backed groups and other moderate opposition in an effort to weaken them. The White House has few options to defend those it had secretly armed and trained. Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, told the Associated Press the Russians “know their targets, and...

A Saudi Arabian official has reportedly disclosed that the Sunni kingdom sent Syrian rebels a new batch of one of the most effective weapons for battling against the Assad regime this week. BBC correspondent Frank Gardner tweeted that a Saudi official confirmed the delivery of 500 TOW antitank missiles to the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The FSA is currently being squeezed from all directions by the Syrian military, Russian airstrikes, and competition from jihadist fighters, including ISIS. The delivery of the TOW missiles — which have also been provided by the CIA — will increase the capabilities of the FSA...

President tells CBS's Steve Kroft in interview previewed on-air Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin's moves into Syria are out of weakness, not strength US has abandoned $500 million to train and arm rebels fighting to remove Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad from power (snip) 'He's moved troops into Syria, for one. He's got people on the ground,' Kroft said. 'Two, the Russians are conducting military operations in the Middle East for the first time since World War II... Bombing the people we are supporting.' 'He's challenging your leadership, Mr. President. He's challenging your leadership.' Obama replied, 'So that's leading, Steve?'...

The Obama administration has itself a new proxy force to fight ISIS—but not the rebel army it’s committed half a billion dollars to assemble. The Obama administration is still publicly counting on a $500 million rebel army to beat ISIS in Syria. But privately, the Pentagon brass long ago moved past its own proxy force, The Daily Beast has learned. They’ve found another group to fight the self-proclaimed Islamic State instead. In recent weeks, the handful of fighters in the administration-backed rebel army—the so-called “New Syrian Force”—have been killed, kidnapped, or fallen off the proverbial radar. But the Pentagon maintained...

A ‘moderate rebel’ group in Syria that the U.S. helped create, called the Hazm Network, has fallen apart after recently being defeated by Jahbat al-Nusra, an al-Qaida linked terrorist group. The Hazm Network gave all their US weapons to al-Nusra and took off to join the Shamiah Front, another Muslim Brotherhood group in Syria that includes hardline Salafis.

Hazzm, one of largest remaining non-jihadist Syrian rebel groups, decides to merge with Islamists rebels with which they have fought for weeks. One of the main western-backed rebel groups announced on Sunday that it had dissolved itself and joined a larger Islamist alliance, weeks into a battle which saw it lose ground and men to more powerful al Qaeda insurgents.

In the past several months, many of the Syrian rebel groups previously favored by the CIA have had their money and supplies cut off or substantially reduced, even as President Obama touted the strategic importance of American support for the rebels in his State of the Union address. The once-favored fighters are operating under a pall of confusion. In some cases, they were not even informed that money would stop flowing. In others, aid was reduced due to poor battlefield performance, compounding already miserable morale on the ground.

BEIRUT — The Obama administration’s Syria strategy suffered a major setback Sunday after fighters linked to al-Qaeda routed U.S.-backed rebels from their main northern strongholds, capturing significant quantities of weaponry, triggering widespread defections and ending hopes that Washington will readily find Syrian partners in its war against the Islamic State. Moderate rebels who had been armed and trained by the United States either surrendered or defected to the extremists as the Jabhat al-Nusra group, affiliated with al-Qaeda, swept through the towns and villages the moderates controlled in the northern province of Idlib, in what appeared to be a concerted push...

Syrian Rebels Armed And Trained By US Surrender To al-Qaeda Moderate rebels in Syria that the US have armed and trained to fight jihadists have surrendered to al-Qaeda By Ruth Sherlock, 02 Nov 2014 Two of the main rebel groups receiving weapons from the United States to fight both the regime and jihadist groups in Syria have surrendered to al-Qaeda. The US and its allies were relying on Harakat Hazm and the Syrian Revolutionary Front to become part of a ground force that would attack the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). For the last six months the...

The Free Syrian Army is on the wrong side. Here's its bloody track record and disturbing alliances. Video House approves Obama's plan to combat Islamic State in a 273 to 156 vote Demonstrating yet again that we do not have an effective opposition party in the United States right now, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted Wednesday in favor of Barack Obama’s plan to arm and train “vetted” members of the Free Syrian Army. As expected,the Senate went along on Thursday. The Hill noted about the House vote that “vocal opposition” came from “both war-weary liberals and defense hawks who...

The Senate approved a continuing resolution for the budget which included a provision authorizing President Obama to arm and train Syrian rebels for the purpose of combating Islamic State terrorists. The legislation passed 78-22. Of the 22 Senators that voted no, here are the 12 Republicans that voted against the provision: John Barrasso (WY) Tom Coburn (OK) Michael Crapo (ID) Ted Cruz (TX) Mike Enzi (WY) Dean Heller (NV) Mike Lee (UT) Jim Moran (KS) Rand Paul (KY) James Risch (ID) Pat Roberts (KS) Jeff Sessions (AL)

Nearly fifty senior commanders of a major coalition of Islamic 'moderates' opposed to ISIS in Syria have been killed by an explosion at their secret command bunker as they met to discuss strategy against the the Islamic State. The blast in the Northwest region of Idlib, Syria on Tuesday killed senior members of rebel group the Ahrar-al-Sham brigade (AaS), including leader Hassan Abboud and 45 others including senior members from other rebel alliance groups, reports The Times. The Idlib region stands in AaS territory, but it is close to the front-line with ISIS in neighbouring Aleppo.

Murdered journalist Steven Sotloff was kidnapped and sold to the radical Islamic State terrorist group, or ISIS, by one of the “moderate” rebel groups to whom the US government has considered offering support, according to his family’s spokesman. Barak Barfi told CNN that Sotloff—who was Jewish and a joint US-Israeli citizen—was sold for a sum of money in the tens of thousands of dollars at the Syrian border. He said credible “sources on the ground” had provided the dramatic and tragic details of the abduction. “For the first time, we can say Steven was sold at the border,” Barfi said....

While President Obama is physically surrounded by water, soaking up sun and sand, his foreign policy is under heavy siege as critics pound the administration from all sides. The commander-in-chief’s limited military moves to stifle the Islamist extremists in Iraq, which many Republicans say are mere pinpricks and Democrats worry will escalate U.S involvement, can be credibly linked to the White House’s inaction in the Syrian civil war. And on that point – Syria – former secretary of state and Democratic 2016 frontrunner Hillary Clinton unloaded on her former boss’s “failure to help build up a credible fighting force,” creating...

“When you get farmers, dentists and folks who have never fought before going up against a ruthless opposition in Assad, the notion that they were in a position to suddenly overturn not only Assad but also ruthless, highly trained jihadists if we just sent a few arms is a fantasy.” - Barack Obama to CBS on June 22 Editor's note: Obama reiterated the statement to Tom Friedman of The New York Times in an interview published on August 9. In one sentence, U.S. President Barack Obama disregarded the thousands of soldiers who defected from the Syrian Army since the uprising...

Elizabeth O’Bagy, a pro-Syrian opposition analyst whose credibility has come under fire, might have even more explaining to do – as court documents show she once vouched for a rebel group whose website displayed extremist and anti-American images. Among the pictures was one showing a burning U.S. Capitol. O’Bagy was fired earlier this week by the Institute for the Study of War for allegedly lying about her academic credentials. Her writings had been used by U.S. officials to bolster their case for military action against the Assad regime. O’Bagy discussed the rebel group in question in a June 19, 2013...

Almost the entire Syrian side of the Golan Heights is now under the control of rebel forces, including radical Islamist groups, a senior Israeli military commander in the area said Friday. Only the Quneitra border area is still in the hands of forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, Lt.-Col. Anan Abbas, deputy commander of the Golan Brigade, told Israel’s Channel 10. About 95 percent of the Syrian side of the Golan is in the hands of anti-Assad rebels, including radical Islamic groups such as the Al-Nusra Front, affiliated with al-Qaeda, a rival of the burgeoning Islamic State of Iraq and...

Doesn’t Obama know that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has bulldozed the part of the Syria/Iraq border that it controls? Doesn’t he know that there are no significant forces in Syria that want a secular state, but only various bands of pro-Sharia Islamic supremacists? Doesn’t it occur to him how incoherent it is to want to arm these people in Syria and fight against them in Iraq? For there is no significant difference between the “rebels” fighting Assad and the “extremists” fighting Maliki.“Obama seeks $500 million from Congress to help moderate Syrian rebels,” Reuters, June 26,...