According to the SVR (Russian Foreign Intelligence Service – Служба внешней разведки), the CIA is in the process of renewing ties with the jihadists in northern Syria for the purpose of recruiting them to carry out sporadic attacks against the Syrian Arab Army.

At the Geneva summit with President Vladimir Putin in June 2021, the US President admitted his country’s defeat in Syria and vowed not to intervene there again, recognizing that this country was now under Russian protection. In addition, he accepted the start-up of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline with a gas price slightly higher than that usually practiced by Russia as a means of compensating for the war damages in Syria.

However, in the face of the Russian proposal for a Treaty crafted to maintain peace and stability, Washington plans to turn off the gas pipeline and relaunch jihadist operations.

The attack on a prison held by Kurdish mercenaries, in January, in an area northeast of Syria illegally occupied by the United States and inhabited by jihadists, was likely to have been the first step in the US recruitment plan.

The elimination of the second caliph of the Islamic State, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, by a US commando, on 3 February, made it possible to replace him with a more compliant leader.

Only two days later, on 5 February, a meeting was held in Qatar, chaired by the former president of the Syrian Council of Ministers Riad Hijab and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, which saw a distribution of roles between different jihadist groups and various US think tanks.