The Intercept: America is carrying out secret proxy wars in 12 countries, some of them Arab

The American "The Intercept" website said that exclusive documents and interviews with military and civilian officials revealed that small teams of US special operations forces are secretly engaged in proxy wars in many countries in Africa, the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region.

He explained in his

that while the site and other media previously reported about the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) using a secret program called "127e", this is the first time that new documents have been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act;

It provided the first official confirmation that about 12 countries were included in the "127E" program worldwide, and that US commandos carried out at least 23 operations between 2017 and 2020 under this program.

Many Arab countries

The website attributed to retired General Joseph Votel, who headed both the Special Operations Command and the Central Command, as confirming the existence of counter-terrorism operations under the previously undisclosed "127E" programs in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

Another former senior defense official, who asked not to be named, confirmed that an earlier version of the "127E" program was being implemented in Iraq and Tunisia.

The documents shed light on the program's distinguishing features, such as the use of power to facilitate access to areas of the world that would otherwise be inaccessible even to America's elite forces.

The website said that the documents and interviews provide the most detailed picture yet of a shadowy funding authority that allows US commandos to conduct counter-terrorism operations through foreign and irregular partner forces around the world.

discreetly on the program

He added that basic information about these missions, such as where they are conducted, their frequency and objectives, and the foreign forces that US forces rely on for implementation, are not known even to most members of the relevant congressional committees and key State Department employees.

Under this program, Washington can provide weapons, training, and intelligence to foreign forces.

But unlike traditional foreign assistance programs, which are primarily aimed at building domestic capabilities, in this program US partners are sent on missions directed "against America's enemies" to achieve American goals.

Retired generals with close knowledge of 127E say it is highly effective in targeting armed groups while minimizing risks to US forces, but experts say the use of unknown power raises serious concerns about accountability and oversight, potentially violating the US Constitution.

The website indicated that the authority of the program faced great scrutiny for the first time after the killing of 4 American soldiers by ISIS militants in an ambush in Niger in 2017, and many senior senators claimed that they knew little about American operations there.

bad partners

He said previous reports by The Intercept and others documented the program's efforts in several African countries, including a partnership with a notorious unit of the Cameroonian military that continued long after its members were linked to mass atrocities.

The report indicated that General Richard de Clark, the current commander of special operations, testified before Congress in 2019 that the "127E" program had directly led to the arrest or killing of thousands of "terrorists", the disruption of terrorist networks and activities, and the prevention of "terrorists" from operating in A wide range of business environments at a financial cost that is only a fraction of what other programs cost.

Partnerships with the Egyptian and Lebanese armies

The site explained that some of the documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act were so heavily redacted that it became difficult to identify the countries in which the program was implemented and the forces with which the United States was working, however it turned out that there was a previously unknown partnership with a special unit of the elite forces. The Lebanese government, called the G2 Strike Force, works with US forces to target the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda in Lebanon.

The documents also show that the American forces entered into a partnership with the Egyptian army to target ISIS militants in the Sinai Peninsula, but the American forces were not accompanying their Egyptian partners in the fighting, as is common in other African countries.

The site said that the United States has a long history of helping the Egyptian and Lebanese armies, but the use of Egyptian and Lebanese forces as agents of America is an important development in the relations between Washington and the two Arab countries.

He pointed out that while Sinai is subject to almost complete media blockage, human rights groups have documented widespread violations by the Egyptian army there, such as "arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killings, and possibly unlawful air and ground attacks against civilians."