America helped prepare Syria’s rebels weeks before they launched coup that toppled Assad

US special forces warned Syrian rebels to ‘be ready’ weeks before fighters launched the massive coup that toppled former President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, it has emerged.

Captain Bashar al-Mashadani, a commander of the Revolutionary Command Army (RCA), said The Telegraph that advised Washington that an attack on the Assad regime was imminent and helped the RCA strengthen its ranks.

“They didn’t tell us how it would happen,” Mashadani recalled. ‘We were just told: ‘Everything is about to change. This is your moment. Assad will fall, or you will fall.’ But they didn’t say when or where, they just said we had to be ready.”

Mashadani, who served as second-in-command of the Abu Khatab Brigade in October, claims that US officers placed the brigade and other units under RCA command ahead of the December 8 offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

He claims that this move has increased the RCA’s membership from 800 to 3,000.

Mashadani also claimed that America coordinated communications between the RCA and fighters from the HTS, which is led by Syrian interim leader Mohammed al-Jolani.

HTS began as a splinter group of Al-Qaeda and is currently listed as a terrorist organization by the US, UK, United Nations and European Union.

Captain Bashar al-Mashadani, a commander of the Revolutionary Command Army (RCA), also alleged that America coordinated communications between the RCA and fighters from the HTS, which is led by Syrian interim leader Mohammed al-Jolani (photo on December 8 2024).

Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on December 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war, ending his family’s decades-long rule.

Armed forces commanded by Ahmed al-Sharaa – better known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani – replaced the Assad family’s rule with a three-month transitional government that ruled a rebel enclave in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.

Jolani, in an interview with the BBC said in Damascus on Wednesday that the country poses no threat to the West or its neighbors.

Syria’s new de facto leader claimed that sanctions, which the country opposed during the Assad regime, must now be lifted.

He said the sanctions should be lifted because they were “targeted against the old regime” and that the “victim” should not be treated the same as “the oppressor.”

He also said that HTS should be delisted as a terrorist organization and emphasized that it is not a terrorist group.

Armed men pose for photos near a military vehicle belonging to Syrian regime forces and seized by anti-government forces, which is on fire after being struck by regime forces, in Hama Governorate, December 7 2024

People celebrate the collapse of 61 years of Baath Party rule as they gather in Umayyad Square after armed groups opposing Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime took power in Damascus, Syria on December 9, 2024

He claimed that HTS did not target civilians or civilian areas and considers themselves victims of the Assad regime.

Jolani denied that he wanted to turn Syria into a version of Afghanistan, saying the countries are very different, with different traditions.

Afghanistan was a tribal society, with a different mentality than Syria, he said.

He said he believed in women’s education and referred to the northwestern province of Idlib, which has been in rebel hands since 2011, where they “have had universities for more than eight years.”

He would not comment on whether drinking alcohol is allowed in the country.

Jolani also said he wanted to bring different religious groups together and “not play into sectarian divisions.”

HTS is committed to taking control of Syria, setting up a transitional government and rolling out aid and services to civilians.

Last week, HTS used state television to announce Sharaa – the head of the group’s so-called “Rescue Government” in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib – as interim prime minister of a transitional cabinet that will remain in place until March 1.

Meanwhile, it is alleged that former President Basher al-Assad transferred military secrets and extensive details of valuable assets to Israel to ensure his safe passage out of the country.

Syrian de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa – better known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani – speaks to BBC News on Wednesday about the takeover

Hours after Assad landed in Moscow, Israel launched a widespread bombing campaign that carried out precise strikes on hundreds of Syrian military targets.

The stunning claims about Assad’s latest cowardly act were made today by leading Turkish journalist Abdulkadir Selvi, who claimed in a column for the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet that a “trusted source” provided details of Assad’s communications with Israel.

Assad made his first statement on Tuesday since taking refuge in Moscow.

In a lengthy post released via the Syrian presidential Telegram channel, Assad said he was talking about “a flood of misinformation and stories that are far from the truth.”

“My departure from Syria was not planned and not during the last hours of the fighting, as some claim,” Assad said. “I remained in Damascus and fulfilled my duties until the early hours of Sunday, December 8, 2024.

“At no time have I considered resigning or seeking refuge, and no such proposal has been made by any individual or party. The only course of action was to continue fighting the terrorist attack.”