Obama Builds Up Syrian Air Base With Banned Communist Group

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Under the guise of fighting the Islamic State, or ISIS, the Obama administration has put American boots on the ground in Syria to work with local communist-linked militants on an air base in the war-ravaged nation’s northeastern region, according to satellite images and Syrian military and security sources cited in media reports. The estimated 100 U.S. “experts” and Special Forces troops on the ground there, deployed unilaterally by Obama without a declaration of war or even congressional approval, have reportedly been building up and expanding the air base for several months. Before deploying U.S. forces to Syria in October, Obama had pledged repeatedly not to do so. Now American involvement is deepening.

Meanwhile, in apparent violation of federal terror laws, U.S. forces are reported by multiple sources to have been working with heavily armed militants affiliated with communist Kurdish forces officially designated as terrorists by the U.S. State Department — a major crime with serious consequences, even if perpetrated by government officials. According to French news agency AFP, citing a Syrian military source, the American personnel are widening and refurbishing an old agricultural air field “alongside forces from the anti-IS Kurdish People’s Protection Units.” It is not the first time in recent memory that the Obama administration has ordered American troops to work with the proscribed organization.

The self-styled Kurdish People’s Protection Units, known as Yekîneyên Parastina Gel (YPG — shown) in Kurdish, are essentially the military wing of the Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat (PYD). The PYD is basically the Syrian affiliate of the communist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an oftentimes ruthless outfit that was officially designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. government in 1997 for myriad bombings and attacks targeting civilians. Since then, the group, formed with backing from the Soviet Union, has continued to slaughter civilians in its quest for a Marxist-Leninist regime to lord over Kurdish communities in the region.

In short, the Obama administration has U.S. troops in Syria providing material support to a designated terrorist organization — a crime that would land an everyday citizen in federal prison. “Whoever knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life,” reads the relevant statute, 18 U.S. Code § 2339B. Myriad deaths have resulted, including at least one U.S. soldier who has died since being deployed by Obama to Syria.

Of course, the Obama administration’s material support for communist forces officially designated as terrorists by the U.S. government is being offered under the guise of battling another designated terrorist group, the so-called Islamic State that now controls wide swaths of Iraq and Syria — also thanks to previous U.S. intervention. As The New American reported last year in an article exposing Obama’s support for the PKK and its affiliates, Secretary of State John Kerry claimed it would have been “morally very difficult to turn your back on a community fighting ISIL.” Among other aid, U.S. forces reportedly air dropped weapons and supplies, in addition to various forms of supposed “anti-ISIS” cooperation in battle.

ISIS, though, as even top U.S. officials have admitted publicly, was largely the creation of governments that are part of Obama’s “anti-ISIS” coalition. Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey, for example, have both confirmed in public that members of Obama’s “anti-ISIS” coalition funded, armed, and/or trained ISIS. “All of a sudden everybody’s awakened because this outfit called ISIL, which was Al Qaeda in Iraq, which when they were essentially thrown out of Iraq, found open space in territory in eastern Syria, work with Al Nusra who we declared a terrorist group early on, and we could not convince our colleagues to stop supplying them,” Biden said in a revealing speech at Harvard contradicting Obama’s entire bogus narrative on Syria.

More recently, a declassified 2012 U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) document was released that exposed even more — including the fact that the Obama administration knew exactly what it was doing by supporting jihad terrorism in Syria. Among other bombshells, the document revealed that Western powers, Sunni dictators, and the government of Turkey knew al-Qaeda and other jihadists were leading the Syrian uprising, but supported the “revolution” anyway. The report also exposed those same powers supporting the establishment of an Islamic State in Eastern Syria to destabilize the regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad. Senior U.S. military officials have attempted to distance themselves from the pro-jihad policy, saying Obama officials were warned of the consequences but acted anyway.

In essence, then, the Obama administration is unlawfully supporting a designated terrorist group under the guise of fighting another designated terrorist group that it previously unlawfully aided under the guise of unlawfully overthrowing the Syrian dictatorship. Numerous federal laws appear to have been violated. So far, though, Congress and the courts have shown little appetite for holding the White House accountable for its publicly admitted wave of serious criminal activity. More than a few senior U.S. military and intelligence officials have even concluded that the Obama administration “switched sides” in the terror war, putting U.S. national security at risk, fueling the genocide of Middle East Christians, and leaving the region in flames.

News of the military air base being worked on by U.S. forces first appeared late last week. The Pentagon would not initially confirm reports that it was taking over and expanding an airfield in Syria, though it did offer a comment downplaying its importance and emphasizing that Obama had not deployed additional forces. “There has been no change to the size of mission of the U.S. presence in Syria,” U.S. Central Command spokesman Colonel Pat Ryder was quoted as saying in media reports. “That being said, U.S. forces in Syria are consistently looking at ways to increase efficiency for logistics and personnel recovery support.” The previous head of U.S. Central Command, disgraced General David Petraeus, proposed a U.S. alliance with al-Qaeda in Syria — seriously.

The new Syrian air base, located in Rmeilan, in Hasakeh province, can be seen in satellite images, which appear to confirm information provided by various Syrian sources quoted in media reports. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Defense quoted by the British government-funded BBC claimed that American forces in Syria needed “occasional logistical support.” Analysts said the size of the landing strip, though — close to a mile long — would make it suitable for large U.S. military aircraft. But U.S. troops unconstitutionally deployed in Syria may not be the only ones receiving “logistical support” from the facility.

In fact, the area in which the landing strip is located makes it likely that it will be used to support the communist Kurdish militants that have received backing from the Obama administration despite U.S. terror laws. It is close to the Iraqi city of Mosul, currently controlled by ISIS, and is strategically located in the region that militant Kurds — including the PKK and its allies — hope to turn in to “Kurdistan” someday. The increasingly Islamist Turkish government, a NATO member long targeted by communist Kurdish terrorists, vehemently opposes those ambitions, and has used the terrorist group as a pretext to ruthlessly crack down on Kurds generally.

Unless and until Congress declares war as the Constitution requires, the Obama administration has no business meddling in Syria’s civil war — much less supporting designated terrorist groups, whether of the communist or Islamist variety. In fact, Congress and the courts have a duty to hold the administration accountable for its lawless and bloody interventionism, not just in Syria, but in Libya, Iraq, Yemen, all across Africa, and beyond. The fruits of that intervention are now clear: genocide, mass-murder, civil war, persecution of Christians, terrorism, millions of refugees, and a region in turmoil soaked in blood. It is time for those responsible to be held accountable.

Alex Newman, a foreign correspondent for The New American, is normally based in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU. He can be reached at [email protected].