The US State Department has announced their latest round of “non-lethal aid” for Syrian rebels, and while couched as an attempt to “support the Syrian opposition,” much of the money is going to pet projects to try to rile up international support against the Assad government.

$15 million of the funding is going to go to journalists and opposition figures “to support documentation of war crimes, human rights violations, and other Syrian government abuses.”

The State Department has been keen on this, hyping abuses committed by the Assad government for years, initially in an effort to build up support for a failed US invasion, and now seemingly just to keep that window open.

Despite talking up a $70 million figure for the non-lethal aid to rebels, the rebels themselves appear only to be getting about $25 million worth of gear, with the rest going to journalists or self-proclaimed governments-in-exile to try to buy credibility.

Much of that will be going to the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) in Istanbul, which has virtually no backing by any armed rebel forces anymore, but is still regularly bankrolled by the US to keep their lights on while they hold endless meetings over who is going to be leading their ultimately powerless group.