Stealing Syria: The Dirty Hands of British Infiltration

Sheri Laizer | Exclusive to iKurd.net

Former investment banker for US bank, Morgan Stanley, one time journalist for the BBC and ITN Granada, multi-millionaire security official, Jonathan Powell is linked with bringing Abu Mohamed al-Jolani, the former Al Qaeda affiliate leader to power through back channel negotiations approved by MI6, and the British SAS.

Jonathan Powell, as Chief of Staff to former Labour Prime Minister, Tony Blair, (1997 to 2007), was linked to attempts to sex up the dossier against Saddam Hussein as a pretext for the war on Iraq.

As I wrote in an article on the Blair cabinet’s false ’45 minutes’ claim against Iraq and the untimely death of former weapons inspector, Dr. David Kelly:

“Journalist Richard Norton-Taylor had observed in the Guardian in September 2003, “There is a dark cabal around Tony Blair” – perhaps the same ‘dark actors’ that Dr Kelly referred to in his email? He observed, “What has already emerged – but been largely ignored – from the Hutton inquiry is the existence of a dark, almost Jacobean, cabal at the core of the Blair administration…It is a group of powerful, unelected people few would have heard of were it not for the evidence given to Hutton: Sir David Manning, the prime minister’s foreign policy adviser; Sir David Omand, his security coordinator; and John Scarlett, chairman of the joint intelligence committee. Until he resigned, the group also included Alastair Campbell, Blair’s communications director. Indeed, he was a prime mover in establishing this inner circle. 3

Norton-Taylor didn’t explicitly refer to Jonathan Powell in this context although he was central to the decision-making, but added: “Above all, they allowed themselves to be embraced by Campbell and opened the door to the tainting of intelligence by politics.”

“You could hear it in their calculating treatment of Kelly who, in Scarlett’s chilling words, should have been subjected to a “security style interview.”

“It seems that he was”…I had opined.

Syria is just a repeat performance. It is immaterial to British interests how many Syrians pay the price of having a jihadist for a president.

Talking with terrorists: Enter Jonathan Powell

In 2014, Jonathan Powell had been the UK Conservative Party leader, David Cameron’s special envoy to Libya – another disaster zone owing to the Arab Spring and foreign interference. Powell also took on negotiating roles in Northern Ireland, North Korea, Afghanistan, with FARC in Colombia and ETA in the Basque country, among other assignments. He went on a decade later to be appointed by Labour PM, Keir Starmer as his ‘Special Security Advisor. Now, the secrets about British intelligence interference in Syria and Powell’s significant role are out in the open.

Jonathan Powell brokered meetings between MI6 and Abu Mohamed al-Jolani (Ahmed al-Shara’a) while working as Chief Executive of his NGO, Inter Mediate. His counterpart was still designated as a terrorist as the leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. The National News claims Powell he had first met al-Sharaa back in 2015. 4

The conservative mainstream UK newspaper, the Telegraph ran a heading on 21 November 2025, Starmer’s security chief ran secret backchannel to Syrian terror group. Tony Diver, the Telegraph’s associate political editor claimed that Powell’s Inter Mediate had been founded back in 2011. Powell ‘has had a significant presence in Syria since 2012.’

If so, this was when the Syrian conflict was just a year old and dressed up by the mainstream media for Western audiences as a revolution for democracy against the dictator, Bashar al-Assad. As I wrote at the time it was very clear from early footage that the bearded jihadists crying “AllahuAkhbar” when they launched their attacks were not democracy seeking rebels.

Powell was indeed ‘given responsibility (by MI6) for establishing contact between the intelligence agency and HTS in 2023 yet he had already been active there to sculpt a path for UK interests.

British officials reportedly obtained legal advice that cleared Powell to arrange contact with these terrorist groups on behalf of the UK, “using a defence in counter-terror legislation that permits “genuinely benign” meetings with terrorists, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Al Majalla claimed Powell first met Al Sharaa in May 2021.5 His organisation had been overlapping with another British NGO, the White Helmets, massively funded by the UK Foreign Office with a murky reputation for staging chemical weapons scenes as evidence against Bashar al-Assad’s government. Its CEO, James Le Mesurier had not lived to see the fruits of this labour and met a nasty end in Istanbul in 2019. See, The West’s ‘Red Line’ Fiction: Think Tanks, Jihadists and the White Helmets.

US fingers in the Syrian pie

Jonathan Powell teamed up with Robert Ford, the former US ambassador to Syria (2011-2014).

“Olive-branch carrying peaceful protestors!”

Back in 2011, Ford had visited the Sunni stronghold of Hama and stirred up further resentment against Assad He posted a tirade on Facebook in English and Arabic, saying “how ironic that the Syrian Government lets an anti-U.S. demonstration proceed freely while their security thugs beat down olive branch-carrying peaceful protesters elsewhere.”

He declared, “Hama and the Syrian crisis is not about the U.S. at all. This is a crisis the Syrian people are in the process of solving. It is a crisis about dignity, human rights, and the rule of law.” 7

Ford would later claim that he had met al-Sharaa personally and that al-Sharaa had refused to apologise “for terror attacks his group had committed in Iraq and Syria, which killed scores of civilians between 2017 and 2024, “He claims to have met al-Sharaa twice, once in Idlib under the group’s control in 2023. 8

Powell invited Ford into Inter Mediate to help their Syrian influence project. But al Sharaa denied he had met Ford under such circumstances claiming he only met international delegations. Other accounts say that Ford travelled with Inter Mediate in March and September 2023 and again in January 2024. Powell had taken up his post with Starmer’s government as his National Security Advisor after standing down as the chair of Inter Mediate just six days before the fall of Syria. They knew of course how things were headed and had helped set the conquest in motion.

(Sir) Richard Moore who was head of MI6 at the time of the backchannel operations made similar public revelations from the British Embassy in Istanbul in his farewell speech. 9 He has been a staunch supporter of autocratic Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, including backing him over the 2016 (false flag) coup.

Moore has also acknowledged that the relationship that had begun with al-Sharaa in May 2023 opened the door to the UK being able “to return to the country within weeks” of al-Sharaa seizing power: He did not refer to Powell or Inter Mediate, although sources said Powell’s organisation effectively functioned as an unofficial branch of the UK intelligence services in Damascus. 10

Wikileaks had revealed that Powell had spoken with Hillary Clinton’s office as early as 2012 over his ‘starting work in Syria’ operating closely with the UK Foreign Office and MI6. Her campaign advisor, Sid Blumenthal emailed her saying Powell had ‘initiated some very interesting work below the radar.’ Powell’s email, reproduced for her, added:

‘We work closely with FCO, NSC and SIS in London but this is our first visit to the US to talk about what we do. I have a meeting with Bill Burns, an old friend, but would be grateful for guidance on who else I should see in DC and in New York. I will be in Washington from 18 to 21 March and then in New York from 21-23 March. I will be accompanied by my deputy, Arabella Phillimore, ex UN and ex FCO (Afghanistan).

These manoeuvres so early into the Syrian conflict confirm Bashar al-Assad’s claim that foreign forces were trying to take over his country.

The Wikipedia leaks emails then revealed that visiting Washington the same year, Powell met Hillary Clinton, her deputy secretary, Bill Burns, (who later became director of the CIA), and her adviser Jake Sullivan, who later served as Joe Biden’s national security adviser. He is remembered for his famous 2012 claim that ‘Al Qaeda is on our side in Syria.’

Powell and the plotted demise of the PKK and PYD – A boost to the KDP

Jonathan Powell remains in office as the Labour government’s National Security Advisor (although speaking of imminent departure on health grounds). He was also fielded to engage the PKK and PYD on their disarmament in favour of Erdoğan’s ‘terror Free’ Turkey policy that nowhere uses the word ‘Kurd.’ 12 Powell is said by Al Majalla to have been in Istanbul when PKK captive leader, Abdullah Öcalan spoke at a state organised news conference to declare that the PKK was to lay down its arms.13

The National reported that “working with the UK-based think tank Democratic Progress Institute, Powell and his team developed a program drawing on lessons from Northern Ireland.

The team briefed MPs from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). An unnamed source said that “The American thinking was that one day there would be a withdrawal from Syria. When that day came, they did not want the Kurds in Syria to enter into conflict with Turkey. They wanted to prepare the ground for that.” 14

The Biden administration had reportedly reached out to Erdoğan to propose a deal with the PYD which then extended into a so-called wider ‘peace’ process. The UK became involved in these talks, and Powell’s company, Inter Mediate, also had long-standing contact with the PYD as well as Turkey under a state assignment dating back to 2017, and with the Turkish Kurds in focus with Erdoğan’s 2013 peace posturing.

Kurdish and Turkish MPs had travelled to the UK and Ireland that year looking at ways of resolving the long running Kurdish problem. It was not sincere on either the UK or Erdoğan’s ‘ part but aimed at ending Kurdish opposition to Turkification historically posited as ‘integration.’

According to the Kurdish “authorities” running Iraqi Kurdistan via the enduring duopoly, “Powell reaffirmed London’s commitment to supporting Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, praising the Region’s role in promoting peace and stability. The statement noted that the meeting underscored shared priorities in strengthening cooperation and addressing common security concerns.”

Wither headed?

In his most recent position as two UK Labour Party PMs, National Security Advisor, (successively to Keir Starmer), and Tony Blair’s decade-long Chief of Staff, Powell had to step down from Inter Mediate that he had co-founded with Martin Griffiths – the former UN Special Envoy to Yemen and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator until 2024 when al-Sharaa was helped to power.

Afrique-Asie in a French translation of a Vanessa Beeley article spoke critically of the role Jonathan Powell and Inter Mediate had played also claiming that his NGO benefited from GBP 4 million funding from the UK Foreign Office between 2011-2020. 15 The White Helmets also benefitted and continues to benefit from massive funding in the name of relief and training etc. while its deeper political role was masked.

Inter Mediate remains in the Presidential Palace with Ahmed al-Sharaa

Just four days before al-Sharaa seized power, Claire Hajaj was appointed as Inter Mediate’s new executive director. She has a background in the UN Security Council’s Counter Terrorism Committee from the period leading up to the war against Iraq. Haaj then worked with the UN Special Representative for Iraq following the US invasion during the peak of the violent backlash by various resistance forces the occupying parties chose ever to denigrate as an ‘insurgency’. It was in fact a legitimate response by Iraqis to the war unleashed upon them.

Long term projects director in Inter Mediate’s Damascus setting is someone named Lucy Stuart, credited by her organisation as speaking Arabic and Farsi. 16 She is reported to be advising another former US-designated terrorist, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani – a co-founder of al-Nusra.

Stuart is said to have written for Al Arabiya’s London bureau during the Syrian conflict, but I could only find one article with her name to it on search engines. That article is entirely based on citations from an Amnesty International report accusing the Assad government of severe human rights abuses back in July 2011. 17 The final citation from their report reads: “However, Mr. Luther concludes that despite President Bashar Al Assad’s talk of reform, there is little evidence so far that the Syrian authorities will respond to anything but concrete international measures.”

Lucy Stuart is now dubiously credited with coaching al-Shibani for his meeting with Tony Blair at Davos of January 22, 2025. See the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change video.

Foreign fingers

Accounts filed for Inter Mediate with the Charity Commission in 2025 reveal that its assets rose to £1,625,316 from £668,745 the previous year. The number of its employees increased dramatically from two to 13 people, and it had adopted an investment plan of up to £1.75 million over five years exceeding its fundraising targets. It had profited from a “greater commitment from the [Foreign Office] through a new partnership agreement with the Office of Conflict and Stabilisation.” 18

Jonathan Powell’s elder brother is none other than Lord Charles Powell, a former Conservative and administrator of the Said Foundation established by British-Syrian national, Wafic Said. Said soon travelled to the seat of al-Jolani once he seated himself in the Presidential Palace in Damascus.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army officer and an expert on bio-chemical weapons was also immediately seen to be present in Damascus after the seizure of power by HTS. He visited the new Ministry of Health and further promoted the role of the White Helmets ‘incubated’ by MI6 and the CIA. He wrote glowingly of the new regime for the Telegraph.

Al Sharaa is now ‘the President’, not an interim president, fully endorsed by those that helped put him there. “ The Syrian president was in London this week, and he is an example of how regime change should happen: from within, but with just enough external support to tip the balance.

According to Russia Today, I had a hand in Assad’s downfall. That’s nonsense, of course. If I did play even a small role, I’d take quiet satisfaction in it. But the truth is, the fall of Assad was the work of Syrians themselves, groups like the White Helmets, the Idlib Health Directorate, and countless other ordinary citizens who laid the groundwork for change over many brutal years…” 19

Underlining is my emphasis.

Ordinary Syrians? Well!

Emerald Solutions is also named by anti-establishment reporter, Vanessa Beeley as yet another British military/mercenary group backing al-Sharaa in the ‘new’ Syria.

In October 2025, Declassifed UK, another investigative news website revealed how: “Keir Starmer’s special representative to Syria, Ann Snow, met defence minister Murhaf Abu Qasra in Damascus. This followed a meeting between Qasra and Britain’s chief military adviser in the Middle East, Vice Admiral Edward Ahlgren, in July:

“The meetings indicate the UK is deepening relations with Syrian military forces that took power in Damascus in December last year, overthrowing the regime of Bashar Assad which had ruled since 2000. Snow posted that her meeting with Qasra was “to exchange views on the Syrian army’s internal reform and restructuring and the evolving security situation including in the north east and Sweida.” 20

Human Rights Watch – A Counter View of the new regime

Despite all the gloss, a Human Rights Watch report dated September 23, 2025 headed, “Are you Alawi?” Identity-based Killings during Syria’s Transition documented how just two weeks before Snow’s visit: “government forces, comprising Defense and Interior Ministry units, alongside government-aligned armed groups and armed volunteers swept through Alawi-majority neighborhoods, towns, and villages in Tartous, Latakia, and Hama governorates leaving behind torched homes, piled bodies, mass graves, and broken communities.

The answer to one question repeated during methodical house-to-house raids and before brutal executions often determined whether you lived or died: “Are you Alawi?”…Interviews with fighters and volunteers reveal that men unaffiliated with the security forces were actively recruited, armed, organized, and deployed alongside formal units by Defense Ministry representatives… Efforts to vet fighters and commanders lagged, allowing previously unaccountable units to rebrand as state forces and act with impunity. 21

Last laugh

British, American, French, German, Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish leaders have all shaken hands with the jihadist leader whose philosophy is expressed in Islamist utterances at street level they calmly choose to ignore.

Posters and messages discriminate between fundamentalist Muslims and the ‘infidels.’

For example, a recent decision issued by the Municipality of Douma prohibits the entry of a groom to the hall where the females are celebrating the wedding under a legal penalty of accountability/guilt. The bride must only celebrate with women and the groom elsewhere with men.

The Brothers are laughing up their sleeves.

Related posts:

The Resurrection (Ba’ath) Party – Before the Iran-Iraq War Stealing Syria Business with ISIS – Updated Syria: The Truth Lies Buried beneath an Edifice of Lies Syria: A ‘Caliphate’ by Any Other Name — Would Smell the Same Syria: Revisiting The Caesar Torture Victim Photographs Martyrs for Millionaires: The Black-Market Politics behind the Theft of Syria’s Oil Syria: The Hijacking of the Arab Spring: From ISIS to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Hostages to Jihad – Austin Tice, The Long Missing American in Syria – Part One Sabotaging Syria