Damascus and its allies have repeatedly accused Washington of waging a phony war on the jihadists, and of providing various forms of covert support for terrorists operating on Syrian territory.

The Syrian government is directly responsible for creating Daesh (ISIS)*, US special representative for Syria engagement James Jeffrey has alleged.

“The Syrian regime produced ISIS,” the diplomat said, speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday. “The elements of ISIS in the hundreds, probably, saw an opportunity in the total breakdown of civil society and of the upsurge of violence as the population rose up against the Assad regime, and the Assad regime, rather than try to negotiate or try to find any kind of solution, unleashed massive violence against its own population.”

“That created a space for ISIS to recruit people; to protect people to some degree, ironic as it sounds, from the depredations of the Assad regime; and very soon, ISIS had an army of 35,000 troops and had seized big chunks of both Iraq and Syria,” Jeffrey said.



Later in the press conference, Jeffrey appeared to contradict himself, recalling that al-Qaeda in Iraq, the direct precursor to Daesh, was actually started in Iraq.

“ISIS’s predecessor under the same leader, [Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi, al-Qaeda in Iraq, was almost completely defeated when I was in Iraq…But it was able to regenerate itself because there was no long-term strategy in either Syria or Iraq, but particularly in Iraq at the time, because that’s where we were focused on, to ensure the enduring defeat of these elements,” the diplomat said.

Daesh’s predecessor, al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), was formed in 2004, soon after the US invasion of Iraq, which caused the country to descend into chaos as a number of terrorist groups, warlords and militia groups waged guerrilla warfare against the central administration, US forces, and each other for control of their territories.

No US Aid for Reconstruction

Calling Syria a “pariah” state, Jeffrey stressed that neither Washington nor “most of the rest of the international community that typically provides reconstruction funds” would do so “until we see a great deal more progress” in Syria.

Earlier this year, Syrian President Bashar Assad estimated that Syria’s reconstruction could cost up to $400 billion and take 10-15 years to complete.

US Will Stay in Syria After Daesh is Gone

Noting that the US and its allies expect Daesh’s holdings in Syria to be mopped up “in a few months'” time, Jeffrey admitted that the US military presence also supports other, “secondary” goals, including countering alleged Iranian “malign activities” and demonstrating a US “interest in achieving a political solution by the various ways we have, not just diplomatic but security and military, through economic tools and other assets that we have and that we’re deploying in this conflict”.

Accusing Iran of “contributing greatly” to Daesh’s rise in 2013 and 2014, the US diplomat said that any resolution to the conflict will require their withdrawal. “Technically, the Syrian government invited them in; we expect the Syrian government to ask them to leave.”Damascus has repeatedly urged US forces to end their illegal presence in Syria, and have alleged that the US anti-Daesh mission was never about fighting terrorism.

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8 COMMENTS

  1. “That created a space for ISIS to recruit people; to protect people to some degree, ironic as it sounds, from the depredations of the Assad regime”. Protect people? ISIS protecting people? Oxymoron much. What a load of bovine fecal matter as Jim likes to say. Who is James Jeffrey trying to fool?

  2. So they have 2 choices, get out of Syria and Afghanistan or begin a massive campaign to validate our presence. Looks like they have chosen the latter, and it is a bad idea. So we see the supply of REE’s from china being portrayed as a security risk, and now this.

    The translation is, ‘ We have to maintain a presence, in order to maintain our ability to maintain a presence’.

    The pentagon has hired Don King or whoever Floyd Mayweather’s agent is.

  3. What an in your face B.S. From the start, the whole terror campaign was directed against the Assad, (Golan Highs in play), Government, created directed, promoted, supported by the Agents of Judeo-Nazi Zionist Israel and possibly by the US and England, due to the tremendous influence of the Zionist state over our Foreign Policy. Like weapons from Libya sent over to Syria, Iraq.

  4. Its a Cruel Murderous World Filled with guns , Wars and senseless Murders all over with the Zionist LIARs that have gained power . Truly speaking Zionism is the greatest threat to ALL Humankind but right now and since centuries the Zionists are in Power and they are doing their worst by waging senseless wars on innocent Free people all over the Planet . Its an interesting fact that Zionists are doing Evil things all over the Planet but then using their ” Double-Speak ” they Blame ALL the Zionist Evils on nonZionists and especially the Opponents of Zionism or the People that resist the Zionist Evil ………… here Assad gets Blamed for Evil NeoCon Actions and then since Zionist IMF charges Interest on Every Loan so China is a stated Evil and a Threat to the Earnings of the Zionist IMF …… these Zionists want to bilk the whole world and they are no where near being stopped …… Humans lose the Evil Zionists Earn Money for Free through the Interest on Loans to Every Poor

    • Everything You wrote is supported by the work of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in his work, “The CRCIFIXION OF RUSSIA,” “200 Years Together A History of the Russians and the Jews.” translated by COLUMBUS FALCO. How exploitation became the tool of the Ashkenazi-Khazar Jews and how they progressed, (Rothschild Clan), to control the World financial Markets and Political Structures. Because of that, today the Zionists , U.S. England can put SANCTIONS, on any nation that gets in their way, and destroy those nations, by paralyzing their Economy! The ability to create HELL on EARTH, is at their fingertips!

  5. What do the VT editors have to say about these comments of Jeffrey? Usually Jim adds a preface to articles like this one. Did Jeffrey mention that the U.S. is an uninvited invader in Syria, there totally illegally? Isn’t the real purpose of the U.S. presence there to steal land and resources? Syria should reject any rebuilding aid from the thugs U.S. and Israel. Russia should bomb both of these outlaws out of Syria today.

  6. One has to be very skeptical about any information coming out of the State Department. Sad to say this but I believe Assad over my own government.

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