On Nov. 23 Le Canard enchaîné (Paris) reported that "French officers of the DGSE [the French CIA] and British officers of MI6 have taken on the mission of constituting the first contingents of the Free Syrian Army, still in an embryonic state. . . . several members of the Service action of the DGSE [charged with clandestine operations] and the Commandement des opérations spéciales [special operations command] are already prepared, in Turkey, should they get the order, to train these deserters in urban guerrilla warfare, so that they can go and practice it once they're back home."[1] ...
1.
[Translated from Le Canard enchaîné (Paris)]
The Duck Pond
A "LIMITED" INTERVENTION PREPARED BY NATO IN SYRIA
By Claude Angeli
** In the planning stages, guerrilla training by French secret services for Syrian deserters. **
Le Canard enchaîné (Paris)
November 23, 2011
Page 3
Aid to the civil and military uprising, presentation of a resolution to the U.N. General Assembly to avoid a Russian or Chinese veto in the Security Council, necessary contacts with Washington via NATO, all of these are the subjects of discussion between Paris, London, and Ankara. At the Quai d'Orsay, secret diplomatique oblige, they'll only admit that "Turkey could be the staging ground for a limited, prudent, humanitarian intervention by NATO, with no offensive action." Read between the lines: just like in Libya.
For several weeks now, the French, British, and Turks (who are also members of NATO) all have had the same interpretation of Bashar al-Assad's behavior. He's refusing to yield to international efforts to pressure him, including those of the Arab League, and continuing to send his tanks into cities in revolt. Received in Ankara on Nov. 18 by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, it was clear to [French Foreign Minister] Alain Juppé that the Turkish government is extremely worried about the beginning of a civil war on its borders and is wishing for the fall of the dictator next door.
A tragic irony of history: an intervention, even a "limited" one, by these three members of NATO could, in the event that Bashar does not step down, set off a long civil and religious war between the Alawite community (a minority Shiite branch) and its Sunni opponents.
The Turks propose setting up a "no-fly" zone and a buffer zone within Syria intended to receive civilians fleeing the repression and soldiers who are deserting (estimated by French intelligence services at 8,000, including senior officers). Easier said than done, given that Turkish air bases would then have to receive French and British planes.
"Even before the realization of these strategic plans," they say at the ministry of defense, "the secret services were at work." In northern Lebanon and in Turkey, where many Syrian deserters have taken refuge, French officers of the DGSE [Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure, the French equivalent of the CIA] and British officers of MI6 [the U.K.'s Secret Intelligence Service] have taken on the mission of constituting the first contingents of the Free Syrian Army, still in an embryonic state.
Example: several members of the Service action of the DGSE [charged with clandestine operations] and the Commandement des opérations spéciales [special operations command] are already prepared, in Turkey, should they get the order, to train these deserters in urban guerrilla warfare, so that they can go and practice it once they're back home. Another discreet operation: weapons sales on Syria's borders are tolerated, even encouraged by the French and the Turks.
DESERTERS TO MOBILIZE
An anti-Bashar proxy war, then? "It's not a question of repeating what happened in Libya," says a high officer in the *Direction du renseignement militaire* [military intelligence command]. "But it's the French and the British who made the first contacts with the rebels." Political contacts, with exiled refugees in Paris or London, and military contacts, with deserters, in order to evaluate the relative size of their Free Syrian Army, which has already attacked several official buildings.
The French and the British have been worried about divisions that have appeared in this opposition which is still finding its way, even as thousands of demonstrators are clashing on an almost daily basis with the regime's tanks. Another cause for concern, in Ankara, this time: Bashar's partisans are inciting the Kurds to start up anti-Turk terrorism again.
And, as if that weren't enough in this complicated Near East, Moscow's support for the Syrian dictator is not without a "strategic" basis. A few hundred Russian technicians are based in Tartus, where their submarines patrolling the Mediterranean put into port.
Still, while Moscow's support at the U.N. is insurance against Security Council resolutions, Bashar's future will be determined on the ground. Three armored divisions, a division of infantry, and the Republican Guard, 30,000 faithful in all, members of the Alawite community, act as his bodyguards. And they, too, know what they're risking in this civil war among Muslims.
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Translated by Mark K. Jensen
Associate Professor of French
Department of Languages and Literatures
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447-0003
Phone: 253-353-7219
Webpage: http://www.plu.edu/~jensenmk/
Email:
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