For only the second time, Trump did something I approved of.



The Trump administration has decided to halt the CIA's covert programme to equip and train certain rebel groups fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, two US officials said, a move sought by Assad ally Russia.

...The decision was made nearly a month ago with National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and CIA Director Mike Pompeo after they consulted with lower ranking officials and before Trump's July 7 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Germany. It was not part of US-Russian negotiations on a ceasefire in southwestern Syria, the two officials said.

One of the officials said the US was not making a major concession, given Assad's grip on power, although not on all of Syria, "but it's a signal to Putin that the administration wants to improve ties to Russia".

I give Trump BIG kudos on this, because those "rebels" have been nothing but head-chopping jihadists for years.

This is a HUGE victory against terrorism.

For amusement, look at how this good news was reported - as the opposite of reality.

'Putin won in Syria': Trump is reportedly ending the CIA's covert program to arm Syrian rebels



Ned Price, a former CIA officer who served as senior director of the National Security Council under President Barack Obama, declined to comment on any purportedly covert intelligence programs. But he said the Post report "raises serious questions about what the administration may have furtively given away in return" for the "limited and fragile ceasefire" achieved with Putin in southern Syria.

"It also fits a broader pattern," Price said. 'The White House appears content to kowtow to Moscow on any number of fronts — including in Syria, where, with each passing day, this administration appears to harbor fewer objections to the continued rule of Bashar al-Assad, a murderous dictator who continues to slaughter his own people."

Trump Ends Covert Aid to Syrian Rebels Trying to Topple Assad

But the pressure on Mr. Assad was not great enough to force him to enter negotiations to end the civil war. Nor was it sufficient to clear the way for the rebel groups to take over major cities or approach the capital, Damascus. The program also sought to bolster so-called moderate rebels against extremist factions like the Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda.

Trump ends covert CIA program to arm anti-Assad rebels in Syria, a move sought by Moscow



Some analysts said the decision to end the program was likely to empower more radical groups inside Syria and damage the credibility of the United States.

“We are falling into a Russian trap,” said Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, who focuses on the Syrian resistance. “We are making the moderate resistance more and more vulnerable. . . . We are really cutting them off at the neck.”