Syrian “rebel” group Nour al-Din al-Zanki, which was widely condemned this past July after beheading a child soldier and posting the video — raising questions about their CIA-“vetted” status — continues to use U.S.-provided TOW missiles according to a video published on its Twitter feed yesterday.
#حركة_نور_الدين_الزنكي#جيش_الفتح
استهداف سيارة محملة بالذخيرة على جبهة منيان بصاروخ تاو ومقتل أكثر من ٧ عناصر pic.twitter.com/5DAZRK8jT1
— حركةنور الدين الزنكي (@NDZankiMotion) November 21, 2016
The ongoing use of TOW missiles by the group was first noticed by Thomas Joscelyn at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Nur al-Din al-Zanki – part of Jaysh al Fath alliance (led by rebranded Al Qaeda & allied jihadis) in Aleppo – fires US-made TOW: pic.twitter.com/MRcojYVJDf
— Thomas Joscelyn (@thomasjoscelyn) November 22, 2016
Later, the terror group published a video to its YouTube account showing members using the TOW missile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1y2OZYADjQ
As Joscelyn noted, the group is openly allied with the rebranded Al-Qaeda affiliate operating in Syria.
The Daily Beast reported at the time of the child beheading:
Members of an American-backed rebel group in Syria beheaded a young child in a grisly execution video.
The footage surfaced early Tuesday of members of Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki and a captured child in Handarat, near Aleppo. The young boy, who appears to be prepubescent, is then executed on the back of a pickup truck.
The gruesome videotaped murder of a child drew outrage on social media and the promise of an inquiry from the group’s leadership, which has previously received U.S.-made weapons and American funding. The group no longer gets such backing. But it’s also renewed questions about which rebels the American government has supported in Syria’s ongoing civil war […]
There are two clips from the unsavory events. One shows five militants surrounding the boy. In the second, one of them stands over him on the truck and cuts the boy’s head off with a dull knife, raising it over his head.
The victim in the video was later identified as 14-year old Abdullah Tayseer.
The video, shown here with the beheading blurred out, is disturbing. [WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO]
US-backed “Syrian Rebels” Nour Al Din Zinki capture Palestinian child, accuse him of working with Assad & behead him pic.twitter.com/eAurv6rmFR
— The ‘Nimr’ Tiger (@Souria4Syrians) July 19, 2016
Nour al-Din al-Zanki had previously been designated a “CIA-vetted” “rebel” group and thus was eligible to receive TOW missiles through the CIA program, but the group reportedly lost its “vetted” status earlier this year. That “vetted status” became an issue after the beheading video emerged back in July.
As news of the beheading video began to spread yesterday, the “experts” who had openly supported Zinki as moderates, like Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute, were quick to backtrack, saying the CIA had stopped supporting the group:
Point of clarification:
Zinki lost its “vetted” status some months ago – it’s got no hope of re-acquiring it now.
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) July 19, 2016
But in fact, Lister had been representing Zinki as “U.S.-vetted” just a month before the beheading:
Reports of armed clashes & “arrests” last night, between US-vetted Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zinki & Jabhat al-Nusra in #Idlib.
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) June 2, 2016
When someone noted that CIA support for Zinki had been withdrawn, Lister reported the situation was “blurry” and that U.S. support, namely TOW missiles, had resumed:
@AbuJamajem It’s a blurry situation – but they are receiving TOWs again, likely as a test for getting fully back onto the “vetted” program.
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) June 2, 2016
After the child beheading, State Department spokesman Mark Toner wasn’t committed to permanently banning support to the group:
Toner: proof that Zinki committed beheading would give US “pause about any further assistance to them” #Syriahttps://t.co/icfHaxaGxQ
— Walid (@walid970721) July 19, 2016
So has Nour al-Din al-Zanki reacquired its CIA-“vetted” status and has the Obama administration resumed delivering TOW missiles to the group? Or are they leftovers from previously provided shipments? Or were they acquired from other CIA-“vetted” groups?
For two and a half years I’ve been reporting here at PJ Media on the dangerously bizarre Obama administration support for the Syrian “rebels”:
July 7, 2014: U.S. ‘Vetted Moderate’ Free Syrian Army Brigades Surrender Weapons, Pledge Allegiance to Islamic State
Sept. 3, 2014: U.S.-Backed Free Syrian Army Operating Openly with ISIS, Al-Qaeda’s Jabhat al-Nusra
Sept. 9, 2014: Fighter With ‘Vetted Moderate’ Syrian Rebels Tells L.A. Times They Fight Alongside Al-Qaeda
Sept. 10, 2014: ‘Vetted Moderate’ Free Syrian Army Commander Admits Alliance with ISIS, Confirms PJ Media Reporting
Sept. 13, 2014: Yet Another U.S.-Backed Syrian Rebel Group Makes Peace with ISIS
Sept. 24, 2014: U.S.-Backed Syrian Group Harakat al-Hazm Condemns U.S. Strikes on ISIS as ‘Attack on the Revolution’
Nov. 2, 2014: U.S.-Armed ‘Vetted Moderate’ Syrian Rebel Groups Surrender, Defect to Al-Qaeda
Nov. 3, 2014: How Obama Walked Boehner and GOP Leadership Off the Syrian Rebel Cliff
Nov. 24, 2014: More Defections of ‘Vetted Moderate’ Free Syrian Army Rebels to ISIS
Dec. 2, 2014: US-Backed Syrian Rebels Ally with al-Qaeda in South, Surrender CIA-Supplied Weapons in the North
Dec. 14, 2014: Report: Al-Qaeda Using CIA-Supplied TOW Anti-Tank Missiles in Northern Syria
Dec. 28, 2014: NY Times Admits: U.S.-Backed Free Syrian Army Under Effective al-Qaeda Control
March 3, 2015: U.S.-Backed Syrian Rebel Group Collapses, U.S.-Supplied Weapons End Up in Al-Qaeda Hands
March 24, 2015: Video Shows Al-Qaeda’s Jabhat al-Nusra Using U.S.-Provided TOW Anti-Tank Missiles in Syria
April 16, 2015: U.S. Analyst Admits ‘Moderate’ Syrian Rebels Have Been Working with Al-Qaeda All Along
May 8, 2015: CIA-Backed, “Vetted Moderate” Rebels Now Working Openly With Al-Qaeda
June 27, 2015: ISIS Using U.S. TOW Antitank Missiles In Latest Syrian Offensive
July 9, 2015: Report: ‘Vetted Moderate’ Free Syrian Army Fighting Alongside Al-Qaeda, Islamic State Against Assad Regime
July 23, 2015: U.S.-Funded Free Syrian Army Unit Shows Off Its Kidnapping Skills in New Training Video
July 27, 2015: #BringBackOurRebels: Obama’s 50-Man ‘Vetted Moderate’ Syrian Rebel Army Vanishes After Training in Turkey
July 29, 2015: #BringBackOurRebels Part 2: Al-Qaeda Arrests 18 U.S.-Trained Rebels On Their First Day in Syria
July 31, 2015: Report: Al-Qaeda Kills Five Members of Obama’s 54-Man Syrian Rebel Army
July 31, 2015: Chechen Terrorists In Syria Have Obtained U.S.-Provided TOW Anti-Tank Missiles
Sept. 22, 2015: Report: U.S.-Trained, ‘Vetted Moderate’ Syrian Rebel Leader Defects to Al-Qaeda, Turns Weapons Over to Terror Group
Oct. 27, 2016: New Video Shows Al-Qaeda Using Weapons U.S. Gave to ‘Vetted Moderates’
Nov. 24, 2015: U.S.-Backed Syrian Rebels Destroy Russian Helicopter with CIA-Provided TOW Anti-Tank Missile
July 20, 2016: CIA-Vetted, “Moderate” Syrian Rebels Behead Child Soldier
Sept. 3, 2016: British Journo: Syrian Kidnapper Who Shot Me Twice is Now a CIA-vetted ‘Moderate’
Sept. 6, 2016: New ISIS Commander Was Trained by State Department as Recently as 2014
Sept. 16, 2016: SHOCK VIDEO: U.S.-Backed, “Moderate” Free Syrian Army Threatens to Kill U.S. Special Forces
Sept. 29, 2016: U.S.-Backed Free Syrian Army Allies With Group that State Dept Designated LAST WEEK
Oct. 20, 2016: U.S. “Vetted Moderate” Syrian Rebels Defect to Al-Qaeda Affiliate
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