Senior Russian Intelligence Official: U.S. Army Commander Provides Unconventional Weapons To Islamic State In Syria; Pro-Iran-Backed Militia Telegram Channel: U.S. Plans To Use Jabhat Al-Nusra Against Iran In Syria

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In late May and early July 2023, the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (SVR RF) published two reports in which it claimed that the U.S. is operating Islamic State (ISIS) members in Syria to perpetrate terrorist attacks, and is even supplying them with unconventional weapons. It further maintains that the aim of the U.S. is to destabilize Syria and to undermine the recent warming of relations between Syria and several Arab countries. The most-recent SVR RF report, published on July 3, 2023, provides the name of the person that the Russian intelligence service contends is the commander who heads the alleged ISIS operations, naming him as “James Joseph Malloy Deputy Commander of United States Central Command.” Even if these claims are completely baseless, the fact that a senior American officer is accused of being involved in such alleged activity poses a danger to his life. In fact, Malloy retired from the military in July 2022.[1] Similar allegations that ISIS or Al-Qaeda are the creations of the U.S., and that it operates them to serve its own purposes, are often raised by Bashar Assad’s Syrian regime and by his allies – Iran and the militias it supports. Several hours before the July 3, 2023 SVR RF report was released, a Telegram channel affiliated with the militias claimed that the U.S. had consolidated a plan to attack the Iranian axis, among other ways by means of Syrian rebel organizations, primarily those that are connected to Al-Qaeda.

The following is a review of the Russian reports and the report posted by the Telegram channel affiliated with the Iran-backed militias:

Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation: Deputy Commander Of U.S. Central Command Provides Rockets To ISIS

On May 30, 2023, the Russian News Agency TASS reported that the head of the SVR RF, Sergey Naryshkin said, “The U.S. is seeking to obstruct the normalization of Syria's relations with the Arab world and is training fighters of the Islamic State (outlawed in Russia) terrorist organization at its base in Syria to destabilize the situation in the country.

“Washington does not hide its irritation at Syria's successes and would like to reverse the emerging trends,” the SVR press office quoted Naryshkin as saying, continuing, “As the customary [proxy] tool for implementing their subversive plans, the American intelligence services once again intend to use Islamic extremists, now known as the ‘moderate opposition’.”

According to the intelligence chief, “This criminal activity is being directed from the American military base at Al-Tanf, near Syria's borders with Jordan and Iraq. Dozens of ISIS… fighters are being trained there, and their ranks are regularly replenished by the Americans, who release terrorists from prisons in the occupied northeastern part of Syria. Small arms, ammunition and anti-tank missile systems are being delivered by truck to the training camps." Naryshkin stated that a group of U.S. intelligence officers coordinates in real time the attacks of Washington-controlled militants and fighters in the troubled southern Syrian provinces of As-Suwayda and Deraa. The strategically important road between the cities of Palmyra and Deir Al-Zour is also under attack by the terrorists… Among the priority targets are places of mass public gatherings, stores and government institutions.”[2]

On July 3, 2023, the Russian news agency Sputnik reported that “the Russian intelligence exposed an American officer who is in charge of ISIS activity in Syria.” According to the report, Naryshkin, claimed that “United States Central Command Deputy Commander James Joseph Malloy [who, as previously mentioned retired in July 2022], is in charge of the operations of the ISIS terrorist organization… in Syria and provides them with rockets with warheads that contain toxic materials, in the area adjacent to the towns of Al-Hawiyah and Al-Zafriyah near the American Al-Tanf[3] base.” Sputnik wrote that according to Naryshkin the area has become a forward operating base for operations of the “terrorist gangs” and that joint intelligence committees have been set up between the U.S. and Britain and control ISIS activity in southern Syria. The news agency further reported that ISIS cells were continuously attacking both civilian and military buses in Syria.[4]

Telegram Channel That Supports Iran-Backed Militias: U.S. Is Recruiting Operatives From Terrorist Organizations To Fight Iran In Syria; The Russian Report Strengthens Our Claims

The claims made by the senior Russian intelligence official were disseminated widely on Telegram channels that support the Iran-backed militias and on media affiliated with the axis of resistance. For example, one Telegram channel posted, “Russian Foreign Intelligence: Washington Prepares Provocative [Operations], including use of toxic chemical materials to thwart the Arab-Syrian normalization. Washington intends to use toxic materials in Idlib via armed members of Hurras Al-Din and the Turkestan Islamic Party [TIP]. The Americans have provided the ISIS terrorist organization in southern Syria with rockets equipped with warheads loaded with toxic materials.”[5]

Several hours before the claims by Naryshkin were reported, a new Telegram channel which supports the Iran-backed militias in Iraq posted a similar claim. It stated that the U.S. had consolidated a two-phase plan in order to attack the axis of resistance led by Iran and Hizbullah to prevent the transfer of weapons from Iraq to Hizbullah in Lebanon.

Therefore, the new channel contended, the Aleppo-Idlib artery was going to be reopened with the assistance of Turkey, and to this end large forces had been recruited from “the factions which have recently changed their names from Jabhat Al-Nusra to…” It should be noted that the ellipsis appears in the original quote.

According to the channel, this plan for southern Syria involves cutting off Al-Bukamal and Deir Al-Zour from the Iraqi border and attacking the forces of the “Iranian axis.”

In conclusion, the Islamic Resistance Intelligence stated, “Once these operations have been completed, the operation will begin in the Iraqi arena and for that there is a different and more complex script.”

Several hours after that post was shared the channel released a report from Naryshkin, claiming that the post “verifies our intelligence information from yesterday.”[6]