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While two major conflicts consume most of world media’s foreign affairs sections, The Cradle reminds us that worthwhile stories are everywhere.
Joining ISIS in 2014, Salem Turki al-Antari was appointed ‘Emir of Badia’ in Syria by the extremist group. Under his command, ISIS barbarians captured the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the ancient city of Palmyra, which the militants partially bulldozed.
Salem al-Antari was recently sworn in as Commander of the Free Syrian Army, a US-backed militia that operates in the occupied eastern region of Syria called Al-Rukban. Remnants of various armed groups from the Syrian dirty war, the FSA now aids in the illegal US occupation of eastern Syria’s oil and wheat fields, but it wasn’t always so.
“Today, the Syrian Free Army conducted a change of command and welcomed a new commander of the [FSA]. We thank COL Farid al-Qasim for 16 months of dedicated service to the SFA, the local community, and the 55-kilometer area,” the FSA said on Thursday via its Facebook page, according to The Cradle.
“We are excited for the new opportunities that [Colonel Salem Turki al-Antari] will bring to the FSA and the leadership he will provide. This step continues the SFA mission in the Region to secure and stabilize the 55 and defeat Da’esh (ISIS),” the statement added.
The FSA’s true identity is as complicated as it is an oxymoron. Made up of dozens of disparate rebel groups that sprung out of the early years of the Syrian Civil War, their core force was a group of vetted “moderate rebels” trained and armed by the CIA under Barack Obama. With a nominal mission to depose Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, groups within the umbrella of the FSA have been recorded massacring civilians, taking territory from each other, defecting to al-Qaeda’s Syrian wing Jabhat al-Nusra, defecting to ISIS, fighting the Russians, fighting the Americans, switching sides from America to the invading Turks in 2019, massacring America’s allies the Kurds, releasing hundreds of ISIS captives, and now, after this long night of the soul, seem to be back under the banner of the red, white, and blue.
But indications are that none of this amounted to a change of feelings, and from within a US military compound, the former ISIS commander was recently appointed their leader—himself having followed a very similar pattern in life. From ISIS, al-Antari joined the Turkish-backed militia confusingly called the Syrian National Army.
“After the fall of Raqqa to US-backed Kurds in 2017, the SNA helped many ISIS fighters and commanders escape into SNA territory and incorporate into their factions,” reports The Cradle. Not finished, he then took part in the assault on the northeastern city of Ras al-Ayn, held by America’s allies in the region, the Kurds, during which al-Antari’s faction took captive the madame-secretary general of the Kurdish Future Syria Party and a number of unarmed civilians and executed them all.
After this, al-Antari bailed on the Turks and joined up with the FSA in 2019 just in time for the official defeat of ISIS. He and his militant group the Maghawir al-Thawra were taken to the US Al-Tanf Garrison for training as part of the mission to ensure the defeat of ISIS.
Neither the US nor anyone else, according to the FSA post announcing al-Antari’s accession to commander, seemed to pay any attention to this, with an FSA spokesperson saying that “the international coalition did not interfere with the appointment procedure, but [sic] rather a decision that the faction’s leadership unanimously agreed upon”. WaL
PICTURED ABOVE: Salem Turki al-Antari swearing oaths related to his new position as Commander of the Free Syrian Army. PC: Free Syrian Army, retrieved from Facebook.
