presstv.ir <http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/02/17/450799/US-CIA-regime-change-Syria->
PressTV-'Russian strikes stalled CIA plan in Syria' The CIA has been supporting various militant groups in Syria to implement "regime change" in the Arab country, but the covert plan has failed largely because of the Russian intervention, says an analyst and international lawyer in Canada. "The CIA has been a strong supporter of ISIS and has been bringing arms [to them] from Libya and elsewhere to Jordan, to Iraq, and to Turkey in particular," Edward Corrigan said Wednesday, using another name for the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group. "There is clear evidence that the Americans and the CIA and other intelligence agencies have been supporting these rebels as a cover to have regime change in Syria and of course destroy Syria and send a message to any other country that indicates it wants to have an independent policy," he said in an interview with Press TV. "But the Russians have really been going after ISIS and also the al-Nusra Front and other al-Qaeda affiliated groups," the analyst noted. At a summit in California on Tuesday, US President Barack Obama said Russia has made a strategic mistake in "propping up" the Syrian government, but added that the conflict was "not a contest" between him and President Vladimir Putin. The US president predicted that Syria would become a "quagmire" that drains Russia. The Obama administration has come under growing criticism that it has done little to contain Russia's military campaign in Syria, launched on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad. "Obama, I think, is recognizing that their side is losing and the Syrian army, backed up by Russian airpower, is actually almost at the point of dividing ISIS in half," Corrigan said. Russia's air campaign appears to have shifted the dynamics of the war in favor of the Syrian army, which has recently made major gains against militant groups after nearly five years of fighting. After days of negotiations in Munich, diplomats from a working group of 17 countries, including the US, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran, agreed Thursday to establish a temporary "cessation of hostilities" in Syria within a week.
