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 A blow to U.S. moves to aid rebels, the dissolution of Hazzm also
highlights the risks that a new Department of Defense program could
face in training and equipping fighters in Jordan, Turkey and Qatar.
U.S. officials plan to train thousands of Syrian rebels over three
years. The program is expected to begin this month in Jordan and
focuses on battling the hardline Islamic State group rather than
President Bashar al-Assad.
Hazzm's collapse has shown how such efforts will prove difficult in
a country where insurgents often battle each other and arms have
fallen into the hands of hardline groups.
An onslaught by al Qaeda's Syria wing, the Nusra Front, last week
forced Hazzm into dissolution, its members swallowed by Jabhat
al-Shamiyya, a mainly Islamist alliance. It was the second time in
four months that Nusra had crushed a Western-backed rebel group.
Nusra is now considering cutting its ties with al Qaeda in a
rebranding exercise backed by Qatar and some other Gulf states that
will bring in more funds, sources say.
On Tuesday, Nusra followers published photographs on Twitter of what
they said were U.S. weapons, including anti-tank missiles, seized in
battles with opposition brigades.
Reuters could not authenticate the photographs but the head of the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman, said many
arms had been seized, including 60 to 90 TOW anti-tank missiles.
Hazzm members did not respond to requests for comment or were not
reachable. The group once claimed to be the main recipient of the
secret U.S.-led operation supporting rebels in the north. It
numbered 1,200-1,500 last year, Abdulrahman said.
It was set up in January 2014 and came under a body known as MOM,
which was used to funnel resources to rebels in an attempt to
coordinate funding. Money has poured into northern Syria from Gulf
Arab states including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, much of it going to
Islamist fighters, including hardliners.
"The United States was never particularly serious in its support for
the MOM, and coordination among the United States and other state
backers broke down," said Noah Bonsey, a senior Syria analyst at the
International Crisis Group.
"The defeat of Hazzm is the latest indication of the MOM's failure
in the north," he said.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Hazzm had received
non-lethal U.S. assistance. Washington has never acknowledged the
CIA program.
The group's demise "will have an impact on the moderate opposition's
capabilities in the north," Harf said.
The group had shrunk to about 400 fighters last month after
killings, desertions and arrests, the Observatory's Abdulrahman
said. "They are now finished, like sugar in tea."
FAVORITE SON
Almost a year ago, U.S. anti-tank weapons appeared in YouTube videos
showing the formation of Hazzm. Opposition members said they hoped
the group would form a new non-jihadist rebel structure after groups
had lost non-lethal aid to Islamist groups.
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Hazzm officials received visitors at an office in the Turkish town
of Reyhanli, where they briefed on their pluralistic vision for
Syria while handing out Hazzm business cards and predicting more
military support.
Some in the group regretted the images of Hazzm fighters with the
anti-tank missiles, saying they annoyed other brigades. The U.S-led
program spread to other rebels but Hazzm received the most, fuelling
resentment.
"Everyone hated Hazzm," said a Syrian consultant working with rebel
brigades who did not want to be named. "Imagine if there is a father
and he has a favorite son. Everything is given to him ... the other
son starts to hate the father and the favorite son."
"Hazzm got everything -- TOWs, training camps with everything like
hospitals." When Nusra attacked Hazzm, no other groups came to its
rescue, he said.
Another rebel said Hazzm had been "built" for the U.S.-led effort to
control the flow of aid into northern Syria.
Hazzm leaders complained the U.S. program, which included weapons
and some salaries for fighters, would make little difference in
their fight against both the army and jihadists.
In October and November, Nusra took over Idlib, once a stronghold of
more secular rebels, annihilating another once powerful brigade
which previously received U.S. aid, the Syrian Revolutionaries
Front, and forcing its leader Jamal Maarouf into hiding in Turkey.
There were efforts to keep track of the weapons provided in the
program. Hazzm and other groups had to film the use of every
anti-tank missile, and return the casings. But heavy weapons ended
up with Nusra last year, opposition sources say.
In response, the U.S. reduced support and stopped inviting group
leaders to the secret meetings with intelligence representatives
where allocations were decided.
With Idlib mostly under Nusra control the United States stopped
sending weapons there, a rebel source said.
Hazzm aligned itself with Jabhat al-Shamiyyah this year to fight
Nusra. But the alliance did not save Hazzm.
"Hazzm failed because it could not convince the people of its
ideological project," said the head of a mainstream rebel group in
Syria, speaking via the internet. "Nusra harvested its mistakes."
(Additional reporting by Tom Perry in Beirut and Lesley Wroughton in
Washington; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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