Inside a Covert U.S. Program to Arm & Train Moderate Syrian Rebels (full documentary)

Inside a Covert U.S. Program to Arm & Train Moderate Syrian Rebels (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

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Күн бұрын

A 2014 FRONTLINE documentary followed Syrian rebel fighters who said they were being secretly armed and trained by the United States. (Aired 2014)
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Some three years after the beginning of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the regime’s bloody crackdown, journalist Muhammad Ali reported from Syria about a covert U.S. program to help moderate rebels fighting against both Assad and Islamist radicals aligned with Al Qaeda.
The reporter on “Syria: Arming the Rebels” was Muhammad Ali. The producer was Jamie Doran. The senior producer was Frank Koughan. The deputy executive producer of FRONTLINE was Raney Aronson-Rath. The executive producer of FRONTLINE was David Fanning.
Explore additional reporting on "Syria: Arming the Rebels" on our website:
www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/do...
#Documentary #Syria #Conflict
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FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.
00:00 - Meeting Syrian Rebels
05:02 - Syrian Rebel Fighters Show Munitions They Said U.S. Provided
08:31 - Syrian Rebel Fighters Gave Accounts of Secret Training by U.S.
11:38 - A Debate Over the Obama Administration’s Syria Policies
18:11 - Credits

Пікірлер: 519

@cookiechaser126 Ай бұрын

This is from 2014. People will watch this and think its from 2024.

@Serai3 Ай бұрын

What, you think we're not still pulling this kind of crap? Believe me, somewhere we are arming and training somebody we should absolutely NOT be helping.

@manfromthepast Ай бұрын

@@Serai3Yes,like Israel.

@DuckmanYaHeard Ай бұрын

Joey baby ain’t funding ISIS as they reemerge on the scene post Trump… trust me bro 😎 it’s magic 🪄 money 💰

@hobologna Ай бұрын

@@manfromthepast we're still giving Syria weapons

@richperez2168 Ай бұрын

It clearly says 2014 🤦🤦

@waisinglee1509 Ай бұрын

I watched this a decade ago. Knew it was a terrible idea then. The USA and Saudi Arabia have blood on their hands for what they did in Syria.

@tombayless9759 Ай бұрын

Don't forget the little hat's

@Jean-Seb Ай бұрын

@@tombayless9759 those too.

@AM-uc4yd Ай бұрын

lol

@twonumber22 Ай бұрын

They aren't the only two.

@tombayless9759 Ай бұрын

@@twonumber22 turkey

@thedirtydizzler Ай бұрын

lol "Moderate Rebels"

@jalbertking5170 Ай бұрын

also known as ISIS. PBS is such a garbage network. Once you see it , you can't unsee it.

@44SWAGNUM-MAGA5 Ай бұрын

im a moderate mexican

@jaleel42 Ай бұрын

Yeah the fsa was moderate,. They were people who had a problem turning their guns on ,. Unarmed Syrians,. Cuz westerners are dumb they think the Fsa is isis or al nusra,.

@ngonzales3781 Ай бұрын

They were moderate compared to others.

@saphone9758 Ай бұрын

Yeah, like "kind of terrorists"

@davehughes53 Ай бұрын

It’s gonna be a sad day when the voice of this show retires there are not many left like him

@Zombie.trader Ай бұрын

Indeed 😔

@ska5568 28 күн бұрын

By the time he retires, AI will do a better and faster Job. Nothing will be lost. In few years you can even select the AI narrator's voice and the language. 😂😂😂

@happykitten5695 Ай бұрын

Peace and LOVE 🙏🕊❤‍🔥

@DoctorVinnieBoombatz Ай бұрын

Thanks for releasing a 10 year-old doc, 4 hours ago....

@Bigglawhisky Ай бұрын

😂😂😂

@alno2554 Ай бұрын

Maybe they had a doctor's appointment, had to drop the kids off at school, pick up some groceries. Sometimes it takes 10 years.

@Dave05J 29 күн бұрын

@@alno2554😂😂😂

@chrisdavenport3621 29 күн бұрын

Thanks for letting us know your ability for finding a negative in anything and everything. I bet you’re great at parties too.

@DoctorVinnieBoombatz 29 күн бұрын

@@chrisdavenport3621 So I'm talking about a show, not attacking someone personally because I just got triggered and don't really have a point. But I bet you're that kind of guy, huh?

@afolabifaruq9606 Ай бұрын

Imagine calling rebels aligned with ISIS "MODERATE". Is that not madness. 😂😂 America is the worst hypocrite on earth.

@rusi6219 Ай бұрын

They were funded specifically fight ISIS and leave the regime alone

@jaleel42 Ай бұрын

The fsa wasn’t aligned with isis,..

@vladimirputin2685 Ай бұрын

ameriKKKa is EVIL!!! Haiti is falling apart but since they’re black and poor, the AmeriKKKans don’t care. If there was oil or gold there, us troops would’ve been on the ground the first day

@ems4884 Ай бұрын

They weren't "aligned with ISIS." Jesus. It's like you aren't even paying attention

@tttuu3309 Ай бұрын

@@ems4884was you under a rock all this time, seems like you don’t know what you talking bout

@rajthapar Ай бұрын

Please include the air date in the videos title! 🙏

@twonumber22 Ай бұрын

they should mail you a postcard with the date, or you could just read the description

@ladedalounge Ай бұрын

IN THE VIDEO FIRST Screen because people will think it is current...

@AldenWeebsta Ай бұрын

@@ladedaloungeThe description: A 2014 FRONTLINE documentary followed Syrian rebel fighters who said they were being secretly armed and trained by the United States. (Aired 2014)

@allenmitchell09 Ай бұрын

I listen to this stuff while I work. I realized only when I heard the Obama administration mentioned.

@BA-rh5hy Ай бұрын

Indeed- some ppl are just listening to this and not looking at the screen or reading the description.

@elbozo5723 Ай бұрын

Bro god dammit we’ve done this in at least 20 countries and it hasn’t worked once

@jaleel42 Ай бұрын

It always works for Israel and arms manufacturers tho

@masterlightjames950 Ай бұрын

Actually, it works to destroy the country and enable your companies loot its resources.

@shanechilson3717 28 күн бұрын

It always works out for CIA.

@user-pd9hg8gs1p 12 күн бұрын

There is information that many may not know, which is that Israel does not only occupy Palestine, but also occupies an area in Syria called the Golan. The Golan is a Syrian Arab land located in the far southwest of Syria along its border with Palestine. This means that Israel is an enemy of Syria as well and of all Muslims. Palestine and Syria are one. Syria has a dangerous and criminal regime that resembles the rule of Hitler, the former president of Germany, so that the Syrians detained inside prisons are women, men, the elderly, or children. What is important is that they are Muslims. Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, and his allies are torturing them with the ugliest, horrific, and most horrific types of torture, the most famous of which is in Syria and has been used many times. . Such as: Impalement is a method of execution and torture, and it represents one of the most horrific methods of execution, as the victim’s body is pierced with a long, sharp stick on one side and taken out on the other. This is in addition to the fact that he did to them what Hitler did to the Jews when he burned them. As for Bashar’s father, who was the ruler of Syria before his son Bashar, he also burned in his prisons Muslim scholars who spoke the truth and revealed its secrets, and he threw chemicals on them. Now the war in Syria has been going on for about 12 years.

@snoozyweatherboy 14 күн бұрын

To be a moderate rebel in the Middle East is definitely picking to be the odd one or to be the easy target.

@constantreader7483 Ай бұрын

This government just doesn't learn.

@ModernHistory1 Ай бұрын

no they know what they are doing, they just dont care.

@intelcom4964 Ай бұрын

They know what they do. Don't get it twisted

@patrickmunneke8348 Ай бұрын

The deep state has its own agenda

@71degrees Ай бұрын

This documentary is from 2014

@alexgowran8107 Ай бұрын

No sorry you don't just get it how dirty your gov is . They don't look to learn they keep deviding and turning people against each other and that's what evil dose , but US. Gov has taken that assignment from devil.

@lightningmcqueen181 Ай бұрын

Migs don't have Flir cam? 😂

@5lanediver Ай бұрын

not in 2014

@mariano7699 Ай бұрын

@@5lanediver : Probably 😊

@AK-hf3pf Ай бұрын

>moderate

@WorldNewsThisWeek 18 күн бұрын

Tremendous report, the fact you released this in May 2014 is mind-blowing. Imagine it was overshadowed by ISIS' explosion a couple weeks later, but it was almost a full year before these men captured Idlib City thanks in large part to this "support", which led to the Russian / Iranian intervention that saved Assad. Hilarious and tragic how open and prescient the Syrians were about everything. They knew exactly what the US' plans were (not wanting to give them too much so they won too fast) and knew how much of a joke the military support was. It's too bad the Syrian Revolutionary Front's attack on ISIS isn't covered, but imagine the footage might not have included this (or was shot before it). Really wish I saw this when it came out.

@mbenz013 7 күн бұрын

Merci pour ce reportage de qualité. Il reste quand encore des journalistes honnêtes. On se donne rendez-vous le Jour du Jugement.

@jamaljames2578 Ай бұрын

Always watching from Georgetown Guyana south America 🇬🇾🇬🇾

@mikeyrose4183 27 күн бұрын

Illegal o ccupiers. 🇲🇽🇻🇪

@madmeh2929 Ай бұрын

Because it worked so well with the mujahidin.

@PabloVelasco-hr3ko 29 күн бұрын

yep, this is were ISIS got its start...

@daphuc502 Ай бұрын

Assad , gaddafi and Saddam were secular leaders. This were not a conflict between Democracy and dictatorship , this is a conflict between secular dictatorship and religious radical dictatorship.

@sharpjk 27 күн бұрын

very few people realize.....epically the dumb politicians in the us and the idiots who vote for them

@Football-rb3kv 26 күн бұрын

Wow!

@ahmadulum3189 25 күн бұрын

They fighting for the zionis group Rebel

@EdukasiPerpus 25 күн бұрын

you forget western fund

@Mr2greys 22 күн бұрын

@@EdukasiPerpus what you think China and Russia and (especially in the region) Iran don't do the same thing?

@DanBaker108 Ай бұрын

I went to Syria in 2018 and joined the Kurdish YPG International Battalion and fought against isis in 2019 alongside US marines and special forces. When I came back the USA treated me like a terrorist.

@PabloVelasco-hr3ko 29 күн бұрын

oh please tell what happen?

@hunterwyeth Ай бұрын

I said this on the last video. Please start putting the original air date in the title!

@Seaneey Ай бұрын

This is such a fascinating look into foreign policy

@user-sb5jh5yc1t Ай бұрын

PBS is the gold standard for news documentaries!

@user-om9bj4rc1g Ай бұрын

Facts

@jakebredthauer5100 Ай бұрын

@@user-om9bj4rc1g This is not news. It is history.

@Jean-Seb Ай бұрын

@@jakebredthauer5100 fake history. There are no "moderate rebels" they are just extremist terrorists.

@twonumber22 Ай бұрын

@@jakebredthauer5100 Today isn't the original air date.

@RobertJackson437 Ай бұрын

You mean pentagon propaganda

@PripurnanandaGiri-dl5gf Ай бұрын

Good Reportings. Thank You.

@Tom-pu6cp Ай бұрын

“He can’t see me I turned my light off” - guy actively recording in IR light

@user-yy9hk9od9u Ай бұрын

It was a bad idea in 2014 and still is.

@danam0228 Ай бұрын

They should have been supported more by not just us, but by the EU. Instead we have had to see so many die in Syria, so many die migrating and now support survivors as immigrants when they would rather be in their home country. Very sad.

@Anonymous-pm7jf Ай бұрын

Righttttt. Just like how we invaded Iraq, right? GTFO with your ideological BS.

@neofulcrum5013 Ай бұрын

Well this didn’t work out did it?

@alm4655 Ай бұрын

It caused huge devastation in Syria, so it worked out for the US/UK and Israel

@Ruder6163 Ай бұрын

@@alm4655Not really, Iran has essentially turned Syria into a proxy state. They have yet again secured another territory bordering lsraeI.

@masterlightjames950 Ай бұрын

It did work out for the West. They used these guys to arm ISIS.

@ems4884 Ай бұрын

@@alm4655 you mean Assad caused devastation in Syria.

@AbeTheFakeSage Ай бұрын

@@alm4655 And that was the precise aim, wasn’t it?

@Swampfox42 Ай бұрын

What could possibly go wrong?

@j.e.ferrer5603 Ай бұрын

Obviously, we have learned nothing from doing the same in Afghanistan.

@kingjoe3rd Ай бұрын

When Russia declared that they wouldn't be tolerating Western degeneracy, the sick perverts over at the US state department had the ideological casus belli for their new Cold War that they have been wanting for years.

@BeardofBeesPool Ай бұрын

We did. We learned the Afghan Army did not care with all the training the US gave them. They gave up and let the Taliban take over.

@heybudstfunow Ай бұрын

@@BeardofBeesPoolyou missed his point bud. he's talking about russia vs mujahideen

@BeardofBeesPool Ай бұрын

@@heybudstfunow Giving the "moderate rebels" weapons did not make them enemies of the US like the Mujahideen did. 2 totally different things.

@SilentTraveller21 Ай бұрын

@BeardofBeesPool not yet, but who can say what kind of leaders the survivors of these rebels will turn into in 20 years

@FRM101 Ай бұрын

Vice trained me to always check the 'more' info option in the description. At least Frontline is still making these type of in-depth pieces.

@Dr._Brian Ай бұрын

Didn't we learn anything from training the Taliban in the early 80's?

@battlefield5826 Ай бұрын

And dozens of other countries

@creativeobx8367 Ай бұрын

This kind of thing never ends well

@christerry1773 28 күн бұрын

Radical *****

@Arbiter710 Ай бұрын

Also that’s how they got TOW missiles,They only got one missile at time and they had to take a video of what they are shooting at in order to receive another missle… it’s why you see so many videos of them

@TerlinguaTalkeetna Ай бұрын

imagine John Lennon

@daveerk6573 Ай бұрын

No difference between Moderate vs. Radical

@Anonymous-pm7jf Ай бұрын

No difference between barrel bombs and hellfire missiles. No difference between the Taliban and the Americans. Remember, America is the one meddling in other people's countries. We only call them terrorists when they fight back.

@erikaitsumi3216 Ай бұрын

there lierly by deffinition is a diffrence

@JeffWusch Ай бұрын

The funny part is that people on the ground think they can respond to a vehicle at 30,000 feet in time... You targeted you dead already

@wildeninja2836 Ай бұрын

Turning your lights off for a Jet is useless lmao

@rinceradio Ай бұрын

Why keep playing old videos? Why are you not producing new videos?

@donnacrozier2003 Ай бұрын

Excellent journalism! The less we know sometimes, the better off we may be? Thank you, Frontline!

@estebanperez4171 Ай бұрын

And once again looking back on that program, it failed miserably lol

@theguy8729 Ай бұрын

Are these "moderate rebels" in the room with us rn?

@wolf8550 Ай бұрын

Love how people comment on videos like this while knowing nothing about foreign policy.

@jaleel42 Ай бұрын

People are really dumb in the comments they think the fsa is isis 😂😮😢

@ems4884 Ай бұрын

Yup. I never understand why people seem to have a real bad understanding of foreign policy and geopolitics. It's not a simple topic, but there's far more difficult subjects.

@Anonymous-pm7jf Ай бұрын

Yeah, like the illegal invasion of Iraq. Right? How about the twenty year war in Afghanistan that we lost? How about funding the genocide in Gaza? We COMMENT on foreign policy because it is OBVIOUS we suck at it while spending trillions of dollars we don't have.

@shanechilson3717 28 күн бұрын

Or the repercussions of foreign intervention. Usually sounds good on paper in the moment, but never works out as intended.

@miki_9034 23 күн бұрын

You sound like you know a lot about foreign policy. Enlighten us, please.

@sihlemaqina8545 Ай бұрын

Jesus Christ...the US never flippen learns. Smh

@internationalhitman4114 Ай бұрын

wtf is moderate rebels???? us rewriting english dictionary.... 😂😂😂

@Hookooo Ай бұрын

Yeah man, surely everyone in Syria was extremists, that is why they wanted democracy instead of dictatorship.... 😂😂😂

@noside8469 Ай бұрын

Before they trained and aed Talibans and became thier worst enemy... When can ever learn from past mistakes

@SeanPan-it3jm Ай бұрын

What ,bout PEACE???

@muffin6369 Ай бұрын

Ask the Defense Contractors what THEY think about peace. LOL

@mariano7699 Ай бұрын

Not in Americans dictionary... Unfortunately

@kayakiye9474 Ай бұрын

Weapons 😂

@YssaRee 4 күн бұрын

2014 shown in small print briefly ONCE & ISN'T in the title > WTF type of 'journalism' is this?! 😑

@qwerty-cr6po Ай бұрын

Are you sure its "moderate" ?

@Serai3 Ай бұрын

OH FFS, are we EVER. GOING. TO LEARN???

@markmott1047 Ай бұрын

And this will end in some awful way just like every time America has stepped in other countries politics.

@KenMBone Ай бұрын

this definitely won't backfire....

@bobbydennis8333 Ай бұрын

Clue in: “Been that way for 30 years.” - U.S. Justice Department on the lack of Human Rights in Oklahoma County Jail, 2020 “Makes me feel human again after this place.” - Oklahoma City Art Museum review after life in the local shelters, 2024 “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” - Nelson Mandela 🥂🥂

@Dr_1212 Ай бұрын

Frontline 👍

@catherinecampbell-costello737 26 күн бұрын

Why do they keep fighting each other

@importantname Ай бұрын

Heres a Secret. When you tell a news agency or reporter your secrets. Its not a secret anymore. ....

@catherinecampbell-costello737 26 күн бұрын

I live in Omaha ne very close to offutt air force base (where the president went during the 9/11 attacks) I have not heard fighter jets in years doing practice flights, no sonic booms notably. Well in the past few weeks during the night they’ve been flying over my house around midnight and 3am. Offutt had become sortof irrelevant but not anymore the are doing practice flights getting ready for what I don’t know maybe it is just training I don’t know haven’t heard them in years

@psu23sg Ай бұрын

Holy shit Mohammad Ali is in this?

@onelcondevillamar9324 16 күн бұрын

LOL is that the number one signature chant of muslims? ALLAHU AKBAR! me i hear starts runnin from ALLAHU AKBAR😂😂

@esinyenetabo2356 Ай бұрын

William Lymman. The stunning voice. May God bless the Frontline PBS team.

@MyCodingDiarie Ай бұрын

I've never commented on a video before, but I had to for this one. It's that good!

@AffectionateFreshwaterLa-yf2wg Ай бұрын

Your comment is the best..............for me to poop on.

@christerry1773 28 күн бұрын

Also ten years old

@UmarFarooq-nl4eq 18 күн бұрын

Basically moderate are those who serves the American interests and radical are those who are against American interests

@angelinawilliamson6841 Ай бұрын

10 years ago

@julianhuerta6322 27 күн бұрын

They had a Chevy truck lmfao 🤣🤣

@user-ef3gy4mt1f Ай бұрын

ISIS is also "moderate"? Just asking ...🙃

@alitharealist4730 Ай бұрын

the Same exact people

@NamSaiyan595 Ай бұрын

Them boys don’t know nothing about boxing like Ali does man, better not try to get in a fistfight with my guy it’d be a huge mistake

@usertttt7483 Ай бұрын

This is 2014 btw. Not 2024

@georgeskanderbeg3242 5 күн бұрын

This is from 2014....

@emiliorosa9896 Ай бұрын

thank you Frontline

@robbykurnia9671 Ай бұрын

how can you be moderate in an environment that is not moderate at all.

@Anonymous-pm7jf Ай бұрын

How can you be an American without meddling in other people's business half a world away?

@j.a.l.m.8388 Ай бұрын

😂 turn off the lights… what difference does it make???

@hourbee5535 Ай бұрын

“Moderate” lol. Thanks Obama.

@miltiadiskoutsokeras9189 Ай бұрын

The devil is in the details. Moderate. 😂

@InPoFiAn 28 күн бұрын

Arming Moderate rebels with guns (terrorists) in other country to suite your foreign policy needs is illegal in the International court of law.

@21Luft 28 күн бұрын

12:55 why not invest anti air missiles.. How much the cost of Innocent people died on these bombs

@hazardtriplezero Ай бұрын

A little bit irrelevant to be showing this 10 years later

@insurgent23 Ай бұрын

Moderates .... are you joking

@ineedscissors6176 Ай бұрын

“Moderate”

@charlywood Ай бұрын

Thats how Isis / Isil was created

@alitharealist4730 Ай бұрын

Your right. same people

@MicheleDamato-co7vh Ай бұрын

What's new..... the problem is when America decides they have no more interest in your cause and leave you holding your nuts.....

@antoniomanuelcaetano6770 Ай бұрын

A FSA era chamada de moderada, no entanto praticaram atrocidades parecidas às da ISIS. USA está sempre a cometer os mesmos erros, outrora apoiou Giap aquando da guerra na Indochina francesa, e mais tarde os USA sentiram na pele o que os franceses já tinham sentido. Apoiou igualmente por breves momentos os Kmers Vermelhos, aqueles que praticaram genocídio no Camboja. USA criou a Al Qaeda, e agora isto. Tolos.

@BruteStrength99 Ай бұрын

They didn't create Al Qaeda. They supplied and trained people who later joined Al Qaeda. Not the same.

@EmmanuelBernante-xu2eh 9 күн бұрын

Iloveyousyriafriendsphilippines

@vickomen3697 Ай бұрын

why would the newly trained guys come by bus to pick him up then go back? Wouldn't it been wiser to just take him there? Clearly fake.

@pmilwaukee9788 26 күн бұрын

PBS is pure, unadulterated, propaganda and wildly inaccurate most times in their docu-series.

@TTOS69 Ай бұрын

What is the point of reposting this old video? Money and views? Channel disliked and blocked.

@user-nb7co9hs3g Ай бұрын

Sooo...The Americans armed and training a rebel group to fight a Government? nOw WhErE HaVe I SeEn ThAt BeFoRe... I WoNdEr

@user-hi1ke5gp6n 16 күн бұрын

Взрывы в московском метрополитене 2010 года - два взрыва, произведённых 29 марта 2010 года на станциях «Лубянка» и «Парк культуры» Сокольнической линии московского метрополитена двумя террористками-смертницами кавказского происхождения[7 страх остался когда опоздал туда с тех пор