- To divide Syria and make sure the north is called Rojava, a Kurdish State under US governorate and "protection", similar to Kurdistan Iraq during Saddam Hussein's era. The US was not against a Kurdish state that includes Syria and Iraq. However, the Iraqi Kurdistan, under Masood Barzani, burned the bridge towards independence and refused to follow the advice of the US to postpone such a decision for 18 months. Barzani's decision was confronted with a strong reaction from Baghdad troops, who took control of Kurdistan's borders and resources.The US came to Syria not exclusively to control part of its oil but to serve the purpose of Israel by eliminating its enemy. However, the war in Syria did not go as planned and today the Syrian President, or at least the government of Damascus, controls the entire Syrian territory with the exception of the north. This is regardless of ISIS' insurgency, which can continue to be operational not only in Syria, but also in any other part of the Middle East and North Africa (Egypt is the best example where the state is well established but suffers from continuous terrorist attacks).
- To leave the rest of Syria in an endless bloody war between Salafi-Takfiri jihadists and all the other groups. This would have ended with ISIS being in control, whose objective was not the US (a far away enemy, even if it is at its doorstep), but a nearer enemy: Lebanon, Jordan, and the rest of the Middle East. This would have been detrimental to the "Axis of Resistance" (Iran, Syria, Hezbollah) or would have at least interrupted the flow of weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah would have been cornered into the south of Lebanon, a Shia enclave surrounded by Israel on one side and a hostile government or Takfiri rule in the other parts of the country.
...we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to [IS] and other radical Sunni groups in the region.There have also been more indirect admissions, in which the US and European media have claimed that large amounts of US-provided arms and cash were "accidentally" falling into the hands of IS via supposedly "moderate rebels," including when large numbers of these so-called moderate rebels would defect to IS.
An desperate SOS message was released by crew onboard a Norwegian-flagged flotilla that was intercepted by Israel on Sunday, as activists attempts to break a more than decade-long blockade of the Gaza Strip failed.
National Director of the Unite Union New Zealand representative on the International Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, Mike Treen, announced the hijacking of the boat by ISraeli naval forces in a video.
He claimed the flotilla participants have been kidnapped by Israel, in a pre-recorded message, and alleged that Israel had violated international maritime law by launching the "attack" on the flotilla.
"If you are listening to this message it is because the al-Awda of the international flotilla to Gaza has been hijacked in international waters and the participants kidnapped by the Israeli military forces," he said in a video message.
"I ask for this message to be passed onto the Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand Mr Winston Peters so he can take action to release the participants of the flotilla and also to ensure that the aid we were carrying to Gaza is delivered."
Activists were hoping the flotilla would reach the besieged Gaza Strip on Sunday.
Breaking the siege
The Freedom Flotilla set sail in May for the Gaza Strip to challenge Israel's decade-old blockade of the besieged territory.
One of the vessels, al-Awda, was named to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the al-Nakba ("The Catastrophe), in which more than 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forcibly expelled from their homes during the establishment of the Israeli state.
This year's freedom flotilla was deployed just weeks after Israeli forces opened fire on demonstrators in Gaza protesting for the right of return, killing more than 60.
"The blockade of Gaza is in its 11th year. It is such a gross violation of international law that it can be characterised as a crime against humanity," participant Mikkel Grüner, a Danish national who is city councillor in Bergen, Norway, said at the time the flotilla set sail.
Volunteers joined the multinational fleet for different legs of the journey, with a select group of crew assigned to participate in the final run to Gaza.
The flotilla schedule was kept secret to protect the crew. In the past, mechanical failures have affected previous flotilla attempts, with allegations Israel may have tampered with the ships.
Comment: More on the Cohen tapes: