The Trump Administration is ending the covert program to support Syrian rebels fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, according to the Washington Post. This CIA program, in place since 2013, armed and trained the moderate rebels in the war-torn country, a dynamic disliked by Assad’s main backer – Russia. The Cipher Brief spoke with Emile Nakhleh, a former CIA Senior Intelligence Service Officer, about the program’s impact on the war in Syria – and who wins by shuttering it.
The Cipher Brief: Was this program, in your view, effective in countering the Assad government?
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