Report:

U.S. Weapons Handed Over to al-Qaeda in Syria

Date: 16 May 2018 - 21:23

News ID: ۵۳۰۳۳

WASHINGTON (Press TV) – U.S. military equipment and ammunition, sent to Syria as part of a failed effort to arm "moderate” forces to battle Daesh, were instead handed over to an al-Qaeda group in the country, according to a report.
"I communicated with al-Qaeda’s branch, Al Nusra, to protect and safely escort me and my soldiers for two hours from North Aleppo to West Aleppo,” Maj. Anas Ibrahim Obaid, who said he brokered the deal, told Fox News from his home in the western Aleppo area.
"In exchange, I gave them five pickup trucks and ammunition,” said the man, who is better known on the battlefield as Abu Zayd.
The U.S. issued those trucks and ammo to him in 2015 under the administration of former President Barack Obama, as part of a $500-million program to "train and equip" a new "ideologically moderate" force to fight Daesh terrorists.
Zayd said the program, one of at least two designed to funnel arms to terrorist groups in Syria, was rigged with inconsistencies and incompetency.
Zayd, who said he defected from the Syrian Army to the opposition in 2012, said that in order to be included in the program, he had to show proof of association with a group that had fought Daesh.
After receiving training in Turkey, the first group of 54 trained terrorists crossed back to Syria in July 2015 where they were almost instantly ambushed by al-Nusra terrorists, who kidnapped several of them and stole their U.S.-issued weapons.
Zayd said he was part of a second batch to be dispatched into Syria, but this time without proper firepower.
The U.S. trainers "wanted us to go into Syria without weapons because of the ambush, and said we could get the weapons inside instead. This was crazy,” Zayd recalled. "We refused.”
After the weapons issue was worked out, the terrorists began their journey to Syria on September 19, but were stopped by Turkish border guards, who found something else in their bags: Syrian government flags, rather than the flags of militants.
Zayd said terrorists charged back to their base in Turkey, demanding answers and U.S. trainers took the blame for the "flag mistake.” He added that the following day the terrorists continued back to Syria.