US and EU Training Al Qaeda in Jordan

Damascus, SANA – Colonel Iyad Abdul-Rahim al-Fares, who was abducted by terrorists outside his house in Daraa city in 2012 and transferred to Jordan before he managed to return to Syria, said Syrian terrorists were subjected to training courses conducted in coordination between Jordan and Saudi Arabia in Azraq military region and King Abdulaziz Air Base in Jordan.

Speaking in an interview with the Syrian TV aired on Thursday, al-Fares said, based on what he came to see and know during his captivity period, there are personnel from the Jordanian forces who coordinate with the terrorist organizations and secure the passage of “dissident” Syrian soldiers across the border into the Jordanian territories.

Recounting details of his abduction and transfer into Jordan, al-Fares said he, along with “dissident” soldiers, were moved from the Jordanian border to the Jordanian Military Intelligence Service, where they were interrogated by “foreign officers”.

He pointed out that he was later transferred to al-Rajhi camp for “defectors”, located between al-Mafraq and Zarqa, where he was asked to form so-called “armed battalions” and “military council” that would be funded by some Gulf States to conduct operations in Daraa, an order al-Fares turned down, according to his interview with the Syrian TV.

He clarified that the training courses for the terrorists have been going on since 2012, noting that after each course the terrorists receive money and arms.

Al-Fares went on saying that leaders of terrorist groups in Daraa would go to the Jordanian city of Irbid in Jordan to buy arms as there are markets for weapons in al-Ramtha and in another area near the capital Amman, pointing out that each leader had a liaison officer in Jordan.

He also said that the terrorist groups had two sources of financing, the first was the “military council” formed in Jordan with the knowledge of the Jordanian and American intelligence, and the other source was from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Al-Fares highlighted that an operations room was officially formed later since the Jordanians, Americans and Europeans were no longer willing to finance the militants individually in light of the increased number of armed groups amounting to more than 400 groups. Qatar, however, continued providing support to specific extremist Islamist groups, he said.

The operations room was based in Wadi as-Ser in Amman, 10 km away from the building of the Jordanian General Intelligence Department, according to al-Fares.

He anoted that the European Union instructed the operations room to appoint, at least in form, the “dissident” Syrian officers as leaders of the terrorist groups where they appear on TV channels and announce military operations, in an attemtp to cover the Union’s real support to al-Qaeda and Jabhat al-Nusra and other extremist groups and make it look as if it is only supporting “Syrian defectors”.

Al-Fares indicated that large-scale operations, such as those in the areas of al-Tuloul al-Homr, al-Sheikh Saad and recently Taal al-Harra, were ordered by the operations room.

He also told the Syrian TV that Jordan and Israel coordinate the access of terrorists wounded during operations in Syria into the occupied Palestinian territories where they receive treatment at the Israeli hospitals.

Al-Fares spoke at the end of the interview of how he managed once to contact the Syrian Embassy in Amman to ensure his return to Syria, which was rejected by the Jordanian authorities and was not possible until a time when al-Rajhi camp was closed and captives and terrorists were sent to al-Zaatari and Azraq camps, where he was finally dismissed and managed to reach the border.

Reem/H.Said