france syria
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Yet another confirmation has arrived regarding what informed observers have known since the very beginning of the Syrian crisis but what, up until this point, authorities have tried to deny - that French Special Forces are active on the ground in Syria.

According to reports by French news agency, AFP, the Special Forces troops are working alongside terrorists in northern Syria in an effort to guide the operation to retake Manbij. The French soldiers are also working alongside the SDF, a loose coalition of terrorists, YPG, Kurds, Arabs, and other groups, supported by the U.S. and NATO.

A French Defense Ministry official told AFP that "The offensive at Manbij is clearly being backed by a certain number of states including France. It's the usual support - it's advisory." Up until this point, France has only publicly acknowledged the presence of 150 Special Forces fighters operating in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

Jean-Yves Le Drian, French Defense Minister, told a French television channel on Friday that France was not only providing air support and arms to "rebels" but also offering tactical advice. However, at the time, he did not mention the deployment of the Special Forces.

"We never go into details about anything to do with special forces, which are by their nature special. You won't get any details to protect these men's activities," French Army Spokesman Col. Gilles Jaron stated.

This is not the first time the presence of French military soldiers in Syria was revealed. It was reported early on in the Syrian destabilization effort that 13 French military officers acting as mercenaries/death squad participants were captured by the Syrian government, all the while the mainstream Western media reported the events as "peaceful protest" and a grassroots level organic Syrian uprising against an oppressive regime.

Around the same time, hacked emails obtained by Anonymous in December 2011 and released by WikiLeaks in steady drips ever since February 27, 2012, revealed that NATO troops, including those from the US, UK, and France, were likely already operating inside Syria. The emails were obtained from the private U.S. intelligence firm, Stratfor, and were apparently sent by Stratfor's Director of Analysis, Reva Bhalla (bhalla@stratfor.com) and contain discussion of a December confidential Pentagon meeting which was attended "by senior analysts from the US Air Force, and representatives from its chief allies, France and the United Kingdom." Tellingly, the email's author stated that US officials "said without saying that SOF [special operation forces] teams (presumably from the US, UK, France, Jordan and Turkey) are already on the ground, focused on recce [reconnaissance] missions and training opposition forces." Later in the email, it was stated that "the idea 'hypothetically' is to commit guerrilla attacks, assassination campaigns, try to break the back of the Alawite forces, elicit collapse from within."

This should come as no surprise since Western troops and intelligence agents maintained a heavy presence inside Libya during the destruction of that nation, increasing their presence as the destabilization and subsequent invasion succeeded.
Brandon Turbeville - article archive here - is the author of seven books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 andvolume 2, The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria, and The Difference it Makes: 36 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Should Never Be President. Turbeville has published over 650 articles on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville's radio show Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. His website is BrandonTurbeville.com He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.