From Operation Cyclone to Timber Sycamore: How US Covert Ops Fueled al-Qaeda
US covert operations since 1979 set the stage for al-Qaeda’s rise. Operation Cyclone channelled billions through Pakistan’s ISI to mujahideen, many of them hardline Islamists. Osama bin Laden used these networks and training camps to form al-Qaeda. After 9/11, the CIA launched Timber Sycamore (2013–2017) to arm Syrian rebels. Billions of dollars and advanced anti-tank missiles flowed through Gulf intelligence services. Yet many weapons ended up with al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate. Internal Pentagon assessments warned that Salafist and al-Qaeda groups dominated the Syrian insurgency. Despite this, the program continued as political pressure to act on Assad outweighed counterterrorism concerns. The result was a stark contradiction: the US bombed al-Qaeda and ISIS while secretly arming their affiliates. These weapons remain in circulation and continue to fuel regional instability today.
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