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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Private Donations Support Syrian Extremists |
| 2013-09-22 |
| The stream of U.S. weapons heading to moderate rebel groups in Syria is being offset by a fresh torrent of cash for Islamist extremists, much of it from small networks of Arab donors who see the Syrian conflict as a step toward a broader Islamist uprising across the region, U.S. and Middle Eastern officials say. Stream of weapons? Really? The private donors, who use Twitter and other social media to collect millions of dollars from sympathetic Muslims, are providing crucial backing for Islamist militias that appear to be gaining ground in northern and eastern Syria, even as fighting stalls elsewhere, the officials said. Dollars raised over the Internet are wired between private banking accounts and hand-delivered by courier, often in border towns, according to Middle Eastern intelligence officials who monitor the activity. Some fundraising pitches ask for specific pledges to cover the cost of a weapon, for example, or to finance an operation. For $2,400, a donor can pay for the travel, training and arming of a single non-Syrian fighter. "You can even get a video afterward showing what it was you paid for," said one senior intelligence official based in the region. Cool! Izzat DVD or Blue-Ray? 720 or 1080? While radical groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham have long relied on charitable giving from Persian Gulf states, the flow of private cash has enabled the extremists to retain their battlefield edge despite the loss of support from key Arab backers such as Qatar, which cut off aid to the most radical groups under pressure from the United States and Saudi Arabia, U.S. and Middle Eastern officials said. Assad or Crazies? Sunni or Shia? Domestic or imported krazed killers? It's so hard to know who to support! The Widows Ammunition Fund is always a safe bet... The donations also have undermined Western efforts to Âstrengthen the relative position of moderate and secularist rebel factions that are the intended recipients of U.S. weapons that began flowing into Syria last month, the officials said. That's assuming we know who they are. We did so well in Libya and Egypt, after all. Obama administration officials say that they were working with gulf allies to shut off private cash flows What is more worrisome, officials say, is a new tendency among fundraisers to seek influence over the Syrian paramilitary groups they support. Some have adopted their own rebel militias and sought to dictate everything from ideology to tactics. Officials at one gulf-based organization, which calls itself the Ummah Conference, have helped promote a campaign to recruit thousands of Muslim volunteers for Syria while openly calling for a broader struggle against secular Arab governments and what one of its leaders terms "American terrorism." Jeepers. Even we don't interfere, they hate us. Didja notice that, Champ? In the border city of Gaziantep, where modern apartment blocks tower over the ruins of 6,000-year-old Hittite settlements, the waves of refugees who began arriving two years ago have given parts of the city a distinctive Syrian feel. Arab speakers now outnumber native Turks in many of the street cafes where men gather in the evenings to discuss the war over coffee and endless rounds of a tile game called Okey. Are these guys all retired? Who is feeding and housing these 'refugees'? The "47%" (via the UN)? But in recent months, there has been a separate stream of foreigners headed toward the fight. Ahmad, a Syrian exile and interpreter who works in a nearby refugee camp, said he regularly sees Arab businessmen, distinctive in their white dishdashas, speeding toward the border in rented luxury cars with hired drivers. "They bring money because it's the thing that is most useful. Finding weapons if you have money is not a problem." And with cash, you can also buy drugs and sex for splodydopes. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #5 The biggest donors are from Kuwait. Didnt we save Kuwait from the Iraqis and they still hate us. |
| Posted by: Paul D 2013-09-22 13:21 |
| #4 Under the radar tactics, like shutting off the credit card verification systems? Fat layman ideologues footing the bill and dictating tactics? Are they trying to get me to side with Assad? Sure beats Minnesota Shaboob focusing on Mall of America. And Kenya needs to go break some things on the Al-Qaida linked group, and I don't mean in a rapping the wrists sort of way. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2013-09-22 11:31 |
| #3 Â…but that the efforts have been complicated by the fundraisersÂ’ under-the-radar tactics. Code Name: Operation Blind Eye |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2013-09-22 11:05 |
| #2 Some have adopted their own rebel militias and sought to dictate everything from ideology to tactics. what's that phrase? Oh yeah. "My military" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-09-22 10:53 |
| #1 Arab businessmen have been funding extremist groups for years. |
| Posted by: Paul D 2013-09-22 09:52 |