{"id":9395,"date":"2016-09-23T14:42:36","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T13:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=9395"},"modified":"2016-12-08T14:42:04","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T14:42:04","slug":"sas-training-new-syrian-army","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/sas-training-new-syrian-army\/","title":{"rendered":"SAS training New Syrian Army"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"British<\/a>
British special forces pictured on the ground in Syria for the first timeBBC News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both International Business Times<\/a><\/strong> and Russia Today<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0have joined The Sun and Daily Mirror in reporting that British Special Forces are secretly training ‘New Syrian Army’ (NSA) rebels\u00a0in Jordan. \u00a0It was not a story which found a place in the BBC.<\/p>\n

IBTimes says the aim of the Marine Commandos and SAS is to equip and empower the US-backed NSA to fight Islamic State or ‘Daesh’ (why do American officials pronounce it ‘Dash’? \u00a0for that matter,\u00a0why do they pronounce ‘Putin’ as ‘Putn’)?. \u00a0Those who join the NSA are supposed to sign a pledge only to fight IS and not the Syrian Army<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0But don’t let us be surprised if they do turn their fire on Syrian regular forces.<\/p>\n

Just days ago, American-led\u00a0aircraft deliberately attacked a Syrian army unit<\/a><\/strong>, resulting in 62 deaths. According to The Independent<\/a><\/strong>, The Ministry of Defence confirmed British jets were involved. \u00a0So\u00a062 sons – and maybe husbands and fathers – died by\u00a0the hand of UK Defence Secretary the Rt Hon Michael Fallon MP. \u00a0Hours after the attack, IS forces over-ran the Syrian defences<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in the same area. \u00a0What a coincidence.<\/p>\n

MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Previous attempts by the US to train Syrian rebels have met with disaster. \u00a0The Pentagon wasted $500 million training just four or five men\u00a0in 2015<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0Rebels even\u00a0handed vehicles and ammunition over to extremists. \u00a0The programme was shut down in October of that year. \u00a0In March of this year President Obama said he was starting up a new version of the scheme<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, RT somewhat gleefully reported<\/a><\/strong> that US-trained jihadists chased their American special forces mentors out of the northern Syrian town of Al-Rai. \u00a0It was claimed, very plausibly, the jihadists chanted ‘crusaders’, ‘dogs’, ‘infidels’ after them.<\/p>\n

Does anyone in the Pentagon or Ministry of Defence seriously think current training operations will do any better? \u00a0From all the talk of ‘lessons being learned’, it appears they do. \u00a0Our money is going down the drain, or worse<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0If it ends up being used to attack President Assad’s forces, it will be\u00a0simply prolonging the conflict.<\/p>\n

WHY WESTERN MEDIA SAYS ASSAD CAN DO NOTHING RIGHT<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Aircraft<\/a>
Aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov has joined the Russian fleet in the Tartus naval base in Syria.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is one reason and one reason only why the United States wants ‘regime change’ in Syria. \u00a0It is because President Bashar al Assad is an ally of Russia’s President Putin. \u00a0Russia has both air bases and a sea port (Tartus) in Syria. \u00a0The US and its NATO allies, including France and the UK, seek to weaken Russia. \u00a0Replacing Assad with a puppet regime drawn from Syrian ‘exiles’ would do the job nicely.<\/p>\n

If we view the news which comes out from Western media about alleged atrocities committed by ‘the Syrian\u00a0regime’, ‘Assad’ or ‘Russia’ with this ‘regime-change’ purpose in mind, every negative story will make sense.<\/p>\n

Do we believe the Americans or the British are above ‘false-flag’ operations designed to discredit the Syrian Government? Sadly, no, we don’t. \u00a0Do we believe they would happily blame atrocities committed by their jihadist allies on President Assad? \u00a0Sadly, yes we do.<\/p>\n

BORIS JOHNSON\u00a0‘GOES NATIVE’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our hopes were high (well not that high) that the appointment of Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP as Foreign Secretary in July might bring with it a change of attitude towards Russia and Syria. \u00a0From the backbenches, Mr Johsnon had\u00a0publicly advocated that the UK should work with Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad against ISIS, which as Tim Eaton pointed out on the Chatham House website<\/a><\/strong> was at odds with current government policy.<\/p>\n

\"Permanent<\/a>
Permanent Under-Secretary Simon McDonald welcoming Boris Johnson to the Foreign Office.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sadly, it did not take long for the ‘Sir Humphreys*’ (led by the PUS, Simon McDonald) at the Foreign Office to put the new Secretary of State in his place. \u00a0Two months later Boris was hosting exiled Syrian opposition figures<\/a><\/strong>, those described to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee as ‘a busted flush’. \u00a0Asked on BBC\u00a0news if the meeting would have any positive effect, the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen almost laughed before saying the leaders and their demands were irrelevant.<\/p>\n

Among those demands is that President Assad step down within six months as part of any settlement. \u00a0Not even the US Secretary of State John Kerry<\/a><\/strong> says that any more. \u00a0But that did not stop Boris repeating it a day or so ago. \u00a0Now he is blaming Russia for everything<\/a><\/strong> from running a ‘proxy war’ (as if they are the only ones) to destroying aid convoys (as if the rebels would never do that) to bombing hospitals (ibid) to protracting the violence.<\/p>\n

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SYRIAN CRISIS?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If anyone is responsible for what Boris Johnson now describes as\u00a0“a cynical and barbaric protraction of violence and it is tragic,” it is the US and the UK. \u00a0The reality is President Assad is the only guarantor of stability in Syria. \u00a0It’s Assad or the deluge<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0He is the only one who will defend the rights of religious minorities including Christians. \u00a0(The UK’s jihadist clients have destroyed churches<\/a><\/strong>). \u00a0Russia will not let him fall and nor should they.<\/p>\n

Those perpetuating the violence in Syria are the US and the UK, namely Boris Johnson, his understudy Alan Duncan MP, his predecessors Philip Hammond and William Lord Hague and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon. \u00a0By encouraging, training and funding the armed insurgency Her Majesty’s ministers and their civil servants can take full responsibility for the destruction of Syrian infrastructure, the deaths of civilians, loss of property and businesses, persecution of Christians in rebel areas and the waves of Syrian migrants flooding across Europe, with IS sleepers among them. \u00a0(View my video, ‘Syria Sense and Compassion<\/a><\/strong>‘.)<\/p>\n

And the UK is doing it just\u00a0in the vain hope that Russia might lose its bases in Mediterranean. \u00a0It is a scandal.<\/p>\n

As Baroness Cox said earlier this month<\/a><\/strong>, peace in Syria cannot be reached through Western interference.<\/p>\n

PLEASE PRAY<\/strong> that the UK Government will support or at least get out of the way of the Syrian Government as it tries to regain control and establish peace. \u00a0Pray for the remaining Christians in Syria as they try to hold their communities together and rebuild their lives. \u00a0Pray for the time when bricks will take the place of bombs.<\/p>\n

Please leave other prayer points as comments below.<\/p>\n