"La guerre de l'ombre en Syrie - CIA, Pétrodollars et Djihad"

English: "The Shadow War in Syria ..." 

Published in French on March 14, 2019. H/T Joshua Landis. Publisher's description [Google translation from Amazon French]:

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A book that explains how for years the CIA has sold weapons to its worst enemies -- Al Qaeda -- to try to overthrow Bashar al-Assad with the complicity of France and Saudi Arabia. A game of influence that has never been denounced.

~~ Timber Sycamore Operation [Wikipedia]. This code name does not tell you anything. It nevertheless denotes a gigantic shadow war, whose main objective was to overthrow Bashar al-Assad. Led by the CIA and its allies in the fall of 2011, and halted in the summer of 2017, this secret campaign attracted little Western media attention. However, it mobilized billions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition, thus helping a rebellion whose most effective forces were linked or affiliated with al-Qaeda.

The result of five years of research, this book explains how Washington, London, Paris and their Middle East allies supported the anti-Assad jihadist nebula, including the "Islamic State".

Questioning some of the greatest experts in Syria and the Arab world, the author describes how -- under the guise of supporting "moderate rebels" -- the Western powers and their partners have reinforced the same Islamist movement accused of the attacks of 11 September [2001] and [13 November 2015 - Paris]. A striking and disturbing investigation, which challenges many of the accepted ideas about the Syrian conflict.

~~ Independent journalist, author and translator, Maxime Chaix holds a Master 2 "History, theory and practice of human rights". Specializing in strategic issues, intelligence, covert operations, US foreign policy and jihadism. He has published analyses in MiddleEastEye.net, Paris Match, GlobalGeoNews.com and Le Devoir in order to inform Western populations about the militarism of their leaders.

He is particularly interested in the causes and consequences of the wars of regime change in Iraq, Libya, and Syria.

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Long War Journal's Thomas Joscelyn said it all in one sentence in 2017:  "[T]here is no evidence that any truly moderate force is effectively fighting Assad."

Those who poured money and weapons into Syria in the attempt to bring down the Syrian government always knew that any 'moderate' forces would easily be overwhelmed by the hard-core Islamist fighters. So calling those government leaders "militaristic" wouldn't describe what they are. But then there's nothing more useless than telling a demon, 'You know what your problem is? You're a demon.'  They already know.

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