Joe Kent, the former head of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, said in an interview that the United States had deliberately supported armed groups in Syria in order to bring about regime change and push for the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Kent said Washington had cooperated directly with al-Qaeda and the “Islamic State” and had done so in coordination with Israeli interests. As examples, he cited operations supporting the so-called Free Syrian Army, which he said did include some moderates, but whose most effective actors were initially al-Qaeda and later ISIS.
Kent said he had resigned twelve days before his remarks were published in protest against the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. When he resigned, he stated that Iran posed no immediate threat; he attributed the escalation to Israel, its lobby in the United States, and a disinformation campaign in U.S. media. He described the war against Iran as the latest in a series of conflicts the United States had fought on Israel’s behalf, pointing in this context to the Second Iraq War and the Syrian civil war.
According to Kent’s account, ISIS emerged from the uprising’s structures at the time and later spiraled out of control, which he said led the United States to become militarily active in Syria again under the pretext of counterterrorism and to occupy parts of the country. He further said that joint U.S.-Israeli efforts ultimately led to the fall of the Assad government at the end of 2024 and enabled an Islamist takeover led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a rebranded al-Qaeda affiliate.
Kent sharply criticized former HTS leader and current Syrian transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa, pointing to his background in Islamist militancy. He said al-Sharaa had been imprisoned, joined ISIS, later split from ISIS, and was personally selected by Ayman al-Zawahiri to lead the Nusra Front; at the same time, Kent criticized the U.S. government for recognizing al-Sharaa’s government as legitimate.
According to media reports, the FBI is investigating Kent over the alleged unauthorized disclosure of classified information; as a former senior official he had access to top-level intelligence, and he is considered the first high-ranking Trump administration official to publicly oppose the war with Iran.
Source: RT DE