‘NATO recruiting jihadists to Syria '

Voltaire Network | 19 September 2011

Outside forces are trying to destabilize Syria by funding and supporting an armed insurrection which does not represent the majority of Syrian society, says Michel Chossudovsky from the Center for Research on Globalization.

He drew a difference between the opposition within Syrian civil society and the insurgency, which is largely funded by Islamists.

Members of Russia's upper house of Parliament are on a fact-finding mission to Syria, including talks with President Bashar Assad, and Chossudovsky hopes the visit will help clarify matters and lead to a targeting of those countries sponsoring the insurrection.

“This insurgency is there to destabilize and create a pretext for responsibility to protect NATO intervention in Syria ,” he claimed.

In the wake of the Russian delegation's mission, he stressed, there is a need for investigation into the causes and consequences of the insurrection.

“We have information that NATO headquarters in Brussels and the Turkish High Command are in fact drawing up plans for the first military step into Syria ,” Chossudovsky said. “And we also know that NATO is in fact recruiting mujahedeen and jihadists to assist them in their campaign in these various countries.”

He believes that any military intervention in Syria would immediately lead to regional escalation involving Israel, Lebanon and even Iran .