How MI6 helped HTS conquer Syria

Recently, Robert Ford, U.S. Ambassador to Syria from 2011 to 2014, delivered a speech to the Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs. During his speech, he made a sensational revelation: In 2023, a British “non-governmental organization” specializing in “conflict resolution” had made him an extraordinary offer. They asked Ford for his personal support in transforming Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – the offshoot of al-Qaeda and ISIS that now claims to rule Syria – from “terrorists” into “politicians.”

The NGO was particularly interested in rebranding Ahmed Hussein Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad Jolani, who has proclaimed himself president of Syria. He was captured in 2006 as a senior al-Qaeda commander in Mosul, Iraq, but was inexplicably released from U.S. custody in 2011, just as the foreign-instigated “revolution” in Syria was brewing. Ford stated that he met Sharaa on two separate occasions, first in September 2023 and then in January 2024, after HTS had taken over Damascus. He reportedly showed no remorse for his terrorist past:

“[Sharaa] never apologized for the terrorist attacks in Iraq or Syria. But he also said, ‘Now I govern an opposition-held area in northwest Syria, and I’m learning that the tactics and principles I followed in Iraq don’t work when you actually have to govern four million people.’……. This man opposed elections in Iraq……. he blew up polling stations and didn’t apologize for it. I want to emphasize that.”

Ford’s statements provide compelling evidence that HTS did not seize power in Syria like a flash of lightning in a dark night at the end of 2024, but that the group had been deliberately and secretly groomed years earlier by Western powers, led by Britain, to replace the government of Bashar al-Assad. Since Ford’s statements became public, there has been considerable speculation about which “non-governmental organization” is responsible for supporting the group and Sharaa in their coup d’etat. On May 22, Independent Arabia revealed that the company in question is Inter-Mediate.

The Arabic-language report – and its significance – received little attention in the West, with the notable exception of independent journalist Vanessa Beeley. Inter-Mediate was founded in 2011 by Jonathan Powell, Chief of Staff to then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair (1997–2007). In November 2024, just days before HTS seized power in Syria, he was appointed National Security Advisor to current Prime Minister Keir Starmer, “coordinating all foreign policy, security, defence, European, and international economic affairs from 10 Downing Street.”

Powell’s return to Whitehall was an extraordinary development. Not only had he worked lucratively in the private sector for two decades, but he was also intimately involved in Blair’s push for the criminal Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003. Most of the other civil servants and state apparatchiks implicated in that disgrace have long since been removed from their positions of power and have no hope of returning. Now, however, as The Spectator reports, Powell “may have more influence on foreign policy than anyone in the government after the Prime Minister himself.”

“He is one of the few senior officials responsible for the Iraq war who has managed to return to the corridors – and the couches – of power. The historical record shows that he had doubts about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, but believed Saddam Hussein had to go ‘because he was a ruthless dictator who oppressed his people.’ Blair called this ‘liberal interventionism’……. [Powell] has the same instinct today. After Iraq and Afghanistan, he still claims to want to ‘save the world’.”

“Our Page”

Such hubris runs like a thread throughout Inter-Mediate’s website. Powell’s alleged inspiration for founding the company was to “share the lessons learned from the Northern Ireland peace talks and assist other leaders facing similar dilemmas.” The company’s stated “mission” is to “advance conflict resolution and reconciliation through dialogue and mediation, with the goal of achieving a lasting settlement of violent and complex conflicts.” It boasts of its ability to “leverage” the resources of “governments and international institutions that spend billions of dollars annually addressing the consequences of conflict.”

Inter-Mediate claims to merely “facilitate dialogue between conflicting parties” and not “advance one party’s agenda,” while seeking “sustainable, long-term solutions to conflicts around the world” by “encouraging the participation of all key parties in dialogue processes.” The company also commits to maintaining “confidentiality” at all times “given the sensitive nature of many conflicts.” It acknowledges that “in volatile circumstances, […] the potential costs of negotiations, both political and in terms of the personal safety of those involved,” mean that “initial discussions often require a confidential process.”

This would all be well and good if it weren’t for the fact that there was no “dialogue” whatsoever between HTS and the Assad government before the former seized power in Damascus. The al-Qaeda affiliate overthrew the popular government and has ruled with murderous violence ever since. The confidential consultations brokered by Inter-Mediate regarding Syria apparently took place between senior HTS officials and their Western counterparts to secure approval for the group’s military coup. This, in turn, strongly suggests that HTS is the company’s client.

If so, the question remains as to who or what footed the bill for HTS, although MI6 is a compelling candidate. Aside from the fact that the company’s staff consists of shady diplomatic veterans and reports from Declassified UK suggesting that the firm received over £4 million from the Foreign Office between 2010 and 2020, leaked emails from former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggest that Inter-Mediate works “closely” with the UK’s foreign intelligence agency.

In March 2012, an internal State Department email to senior Clinton adviser Jake Sullivan noted that Jonathan Powell had “founded a new NGO that has already initiated some very interesting work under the radar” and was seeking to offer its services to senior department officials. In an accompanying letter, Powell stated that Inter-Mediate had “established secret channels between insurgents and governments” in several countries and was preparing to begin its work in Burma, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. Powell added that Inter-Mediate was working “closely” with the British Foreign Office, the National Security Council, and MI6.

The fact that Powell offered his company’s dubious services in Syria to the US State Department at this time strongly suggests that Inter-Mediate was already trying to replace Assad’s government with insurgents more than a decade before his overthrow. An email from Sullivan to Clinton from the previous month clearly shows that the Western powers knew exactly which forces were fighting against Assad on their behalf. It was headlined: “AQ” – Al-Qaeda – “is on our side in Syria.”

“Leading role”

It may well be due to the long-standing relationship between MI6 and HTS via Intermediate that Britain was the first Western country to welcome and recognize the takeover of the government in Syria. Starmer warmly welcomed the news, stating that the group’s takeover meant “a more active role” for London throughout the region. In December 2024, British diplomats officially met with HTS representatives, although the media acknowledged this as completely illegal, as HTS is a proscribed terrorist organization under British law.

Furthermore, on February 19, The National revealed how Britain “exercises significant influence in post-Assad Syria through a combination of political connections, charitable giving, and a well-connected returnee diaspora.” Powell is a central part of this network, with deep-rooted ties to the country dating back to before the West’s decades-long dirty war. His brother, Charles Powell, is a trustee of the Said Foundation, founded by British-Syrian businessman and philanthropist Wafic Said, who met Sharaa at the presidential palace in Damascus in mid-January.

“This personal connection and the work of the Said Foundation” gave Powell “long and extensive knowledge of the country and the problems it faces,” according to The National. The newspaper also reported that after Assad’s fall, he not only had personal meetings with HTS, but “presumably had established a secret relationship with HTS through Inter-Mediate for some time.” The National noted that British intelligence-led projects in Syria continued after Assad declared victory in the dirty war and continue to this day.

This included the White Helmets, a fake aid organization created by British intelligence. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon – previously exposed as an MI6 agent who orchestrated chemical weapons attacks in Syria – was quoted with effusive enthusiasm by The National after a recent visit to Damascus, suggesting that the White Helmets should “now be running the emergency services nationwide.” He added that the criminally outlawed HTS needs “not us telling them what to do” from the government, but rather “advice and resources” to achieve its goals:

“The revolution that overthrew the old guard in Damascus originated in northwest Syria, and the interim president……. appears to be a capable leader. The Syrians I know, including some very close to the new team, tell me they mean business. Britain, through the British-Syrian diaspora, is in a unique position to make a real difference, and the opening of the British Embassy in Damascus cannot come soon enough.”

Since at least 2013, de Bretton-Gordon was part of an MI6 operation to smuggle soil samples out of Syria to prove to the U.S. government that Assad’s forces had used chemical weapons, hoping to trigger a full-scale intervention against Damascus that Washington was reluctant to support. A mainstream report on this effort, published six days after the mysterious alleged chemical weapons attack in Ghouta in August of that year, quoted an anonymous “senior Western source” as saying, “MI6 played the leading role” in the sample-collection initiative.

“The American military wants more evidence before it agrees that Assad has crossed a line by using chemical weapons. The question is what the West will do now. If no one responds, the tests were of little use.”

Given the revelation that a shadowy British “non-governmental organization” linked to MI6 had already begun preparing HTS for takeover in 2023, enlisting the help of senior US officials, we should ask whether the conspiracy to oust Assad was ultimately designed from London. While MI6 failed to trigger an Iraqi-style invasion by staging chemical weapons attacks with the help of de Bretton-Gordon, the White Helmets, and others, it ultimately prevailed and installed its hand-picked puppets in Damascus.

Author: Kit Klarenberg (independent investigative journalist)

 

yogaesoteric
June 19, 2025