By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

The political class in Washington claims President Donald Trump has decided to formally end the CIA program to arm what they call "rebel factions” in Syria.
Before anything else, it’s a formal acknowledgement that this criminal program has been active for years, and that it has been highly criticized and condemned by the world community for having seen a lot of the U.S. provided arms ending up in the hands of ISIL, Al-Qaeda, and their murderous affiliates.
More so, this arms smuggling scheme has been going on for years with no long-standing problems. The U.S. never stopped supporting these ISIL and Qaeda-aligned goons even when they were fighting one another and giving arms to other terrorist groups. They only fought one another for more American cash and weapons – all while doing what they were told to do by Washington: fighting the Syrian government and people for the ultimate goal of regime change
Even if the Trump White House stops supporting certain "moderate” head choppers, others will still get American weaponry for the sole purpose of regime change and division of Syria.
Top this end, the U.S. won’t stop arming of the Kurdish YPG either, as this scheme is wholly independent from the CIA program, and is being run directly by the Pentagon regime. The factions getting arms from the CIA are mostly based in Idlib, with some smaller groups along the Jordan border.
Meaning, this is just a change in tactic – not policy. The U.S. reportedly has 10 military bases and outposts in northern Syria where it is leading an operation to capture and occupy ISIL’s self-styled capital of Raqqa in broad violation of international law. More so, Turkey has openly criticized the Trump administration for relying in the battle against ISIL on a militia led by Kurds affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK. A separatist movement now at war with Turkey, the PKK has been listed by the U.S. and EU as a terror organization.
The military bases and outposts are illegal as Washington has no permission from the Syrian government to build them in the first place. These bases violate Syria’s territorial integrity. They are there to ensure America would be able to occupy Syria permanently and pressurize the government after ISIL is defeated by the allied forces of Iran, Syria, Russia and Hezbollah.
All told, U.S. violations of international law will continue, and the U.S. program of arming terrorists in Syria is one of them. The UN Charter is clear on that: It describes it as an illegal use of force and a crime of aggression. It’s a war crime - both arming terrorists and conducting air strikes against civilians.
To the millions of refugees fleeing the war, instability and the breakdown of law and order in Syria, U.S. airstrikes constitute an unlawful use of force. The U.S. has not been attacked by Syria, nor does it have UN approval for its military presence there. But it’s still there, arming various terrorist groups and fuelling the flames of an unjustified war.