America helped prepare Syria’s rebels weeks before they launched coup

US special forces warned Syrian rebels to ‘be ready’ weeks before fighters launched the large-scale coup that toppled former President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, it has emerged. Capt Bashar al-Mashadani, a Revolutionary Commando Army (RCA) commander, told The Telegraph that Washington advised an attack against the Assad regime was imminent and helped the RCA strengthen its ranks.

‘They did not tell us how it would happen,’ Mashadani recalled. ‘We were just told: “Everything is about to change. This is your moment. Either Assad will fall, or you will fall.” But they did not say when or where, they just told us to be ready.’ Mashadani, who in October was second-in-command of the Abu Khatab brigade, claims American officers brought the brigade and other units under RCA command ahead of the December 8 offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

He alleges the move grew the RCA’s ranks from 800 to 3,000. Mashadani also claimed that America coordinated communication between the RCA and fighters of the HTS, which is led by Syria’s interim leader Mohammed al-Jolani. HTS started as a splinter group of al-Qaeda and is currently listed as a terrorist organization by the US, UK, United Nations and European Union. Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war, ending his family’s decades-long rule.

Forces under the command of Ahmed al-Sharaa – better known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani – replaced the Assad family rule with a three-month transitional government that had been ruling a rebel enclave in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib. Jolani, in an interview with the BBC in Damascus on Wednesday, has said the country is not a threat to the West or its neighbors.

Syria’s new de-facto leader claimed sanctions, which were opposed upon the country during the Assad regime, should now be lifted. He said the sanctions must be lifted because they were ‘targeted at the old regime’ and said the ‘victim’ should not be treated in the same way as ‘the oppressor’.

He also said HTS should be de-listed as a terrorist organization and insists it was not a terrorist group. He claimed HTS did not target civilians or civilian areas and consider themselves to be victims of the Assad regime. Jolani denied that he wanted to turn Syria into a version of Afghanistan, saying the countries are very different, with different traditions. Afghanistan was a tribal society, a different mindset to Syria, he said.

He said he believed in education for women and referred to the north-western province of Idlib, which has been held by rebels since 2011, where they have had ‘Universities for more than eight years’. He would not comment on whether drinking alcohol would be allowed in the country. Jolani also said he wanted to bring different religious groups together and ‘not play on sectarian division’. HTS is setting about bringing Syria under control, establishing a transition government and working to roll out aid and services to civilians.

Last week, HTS used state television to announce Sharaa- the head of the group’s so-called ‘Salvation Government’ in Syria’s northwest Idlib province – as interim Prime Minister of a transitional cabinet that will remain in place until March 1. Meanwhile, it has been claimed former president Basher al-Assad handed over military secrets and extensive details of high-value assets to Israel to guarantee his safe passage out of the country.

Hours after Assad touched down in Moscow, Israel launched a widespread bombing campaign that delivered pinpoint strikes on hundreds of Syrian military targets. The stunning claims of Assad’s final cowardly act were made today by leading Turkish journalist Abdulkadir Selvi, who claimed in a column for Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper that a ‘trusted source’ provided details of Assad’s communications with Israel. Assad on Tuesday made his first statement since seeking refuge in Moscow.

In a lengthy post released via the Syrian presidential Telegram channel, Assad said he was addressing ‘a flood of misinformation and narratives far removed from the truth’. ‘My departure from Syria was neither planned nor during the final hours of the battles, as some claim,’ Assad declared. ‘I remained in Damascus, carrying out my duties until the early hours of Sunday, December 8, 2024. At no point did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge, nor was such a proposal made by any individual or party. The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught.’

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