Joe Kent has delivered explosive testimony regarding American foreign policy in the Middle East.
The former White House counterterrorism chief alleges that Washington deliberately partnered with terrorist organizations to destabilize Damascus.
Kent stepped down from his post to protest military operations against Tehran conducted jointly with Israeli forces.
His statements reveal a pattern of intervention that he claims dates back through multiple administrations.
The seasoned intelligence professional specifically cited coordinated efforts with Israeli defense forces as central to the regional strategy.
Covert Partnerships With Designated Terror Groups
During a revealing interview with MintPress News on Friday, the veteran official described how American strategists actively sought alliances with extremist factions to engineer regime change.
Kent characterized these operations as direct collaborations that fundamentally contradicted the nation’s stated counterterrorism objectives during the protracted Syrian conflict.
“We came in and we said: We’re going to work with the Israelis, but we’re also going to have to work heavily with the Sunni population on the ground in Syria to create an uprising,”
The Birth Of Islamic State
The former official maintains that these calculated partnerships inevitably spawned the very terrorist networks that would later threaten stability across the entire Levant region.
Intelligence documents and leaked communications allegedly confirm that weapons and logistical support flowed to radical elements posing as moderate rebels.
“And that’s where ISIS came from. We worked directly with Al-Qaeda; Hillary Clinton’s emails confirm this. The operations that we were doing to support the so-called Free Syrian Army, and there were some moderates there, but the most effective guys initially were Al-Qaeda and then eventually ISIS.”
Consequences And Blowback
Kent observed that the militant groups eventually exceeded their intended operational scope and transformed into uncontrollable threats requiring renewed American military intervention.
This unintended escalation necessitated a costly return to active combat operations supposedly aimed at extinguishing the very flames Washington had helped ignite.
“got out of control,”
“had to go back and put out once again the brush fire that we had started,”
The Fall Of Damascus
These prolonged destabilization campaigns ultimately culminated in the collapse of the Assad government during late 2024 after years of brutal civil warfare.
The resulting power vacuum enabled Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, identified as a rebranded offshoot of Al-Qaeda, to seize control of the devastated nation.
Current Syrian Leadership Under Scrutiny
Kent specifically targeted the Trump administration’s controversial decision to recognize the new interim government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The intelligence veteran highlighted the leader’s documented history of radicalism despite his recent political rehabilitation on the world stage.
“We had him in jail; [he] joined ISIS, broke off from ISIS, hand-selected by Bin Laden’s right-hand man, Ayman Zawahiri, to lead Nusra, and then they rebranded,”
Deception And Diplomatic Recognition
The former counterterrorism chief expressed particular disdain for how the HTS leader transformed his public image to gain international legitimacy.
Kent warned that superficial changes in appearance and rhetoric should not obscure the dangerous ideology still motivating these seasoned jihadist commanders.
“number one way to fool Americans as a jihadist is just put on a suit.”