US Airdrops Weapons and Supplies to “Moderates” in Syria

Hallelujah it’s raining America weapons and ammo in Syria.

On Monday, US officials announced they were scrapping their training program for “moderate” rebels all-together and would instead be airdropping equipment to a new coalition calling themselves The Democratic Forces of Syria. They insisted that all 50 tons of supplies “reached friendly forces” in Al-Hasakah province Sunday night.  

This new alliance of Kurdish militia and Arab rebel groups were told by US officials they would also be supplied fresh weapons for an upcoming assault on ISIS in Raqqa. A spokesman for the Raqqa Revolutionaries Front, Abu Muazz, said, “We met the Americans and this has been approved and we have been told these new arms … are on their way.”

Reuters was informed by a US military official that the Syrian Arab Coalition would push down towards Raqqa, keeping east of the Euphrates river.

Staying east of the Euphrates is meant to ease the concerns of Turkey who does not want to see an expansion of Kurdish influence in the region.

Of course, airdropping weapons to “moderate” forces hasn’t worked out for the US as of late. This avenue was already taken in Iraq where US weapons went missing last year. On Monday, the Pentagon acknowledged that Iraqi forces could have discovered a trove of US weapons and TOW II anti-tank missiles formerly in the possession of ISIS.

In Syria, Saudi Arabia and the United States provided the Free Syrian Army with TOW II anti-tank missiles. Unfortunately, these landed in the hands of ISIS in December of last year and on multiple occasions over the summer when they defeated the FSA in multiple battles. Al Qaeda has also benefited from US weapons, capturing some in March that were intended for the FSA.