By Wayne Madsen

WMR's Syrian sources are convinced that the massive release by WikiLeaks of files from Syrian computer networks is further proof that WikiLeaks is a CIA- and Mossad-linked operation designed to target other nations while maintaining plausible "independence" from U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies. The leak of 2.4 million Syrian diplomatic, government, Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party, and commercial e-mails, spanning the last six years, and which included tens of thousands of Russian language e-mails, came as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ratcheted up her criticism of Russia and China for continued support for the government of Bashar al Assad in Damascus.

The WikiLeaks dump of e-mails in its "Syria Files" release also came at the same time that Syrian General Munaf Mustapha Tlass, a high-level officer in the Syrian Republican Guard and a Sunni Muslim, defected to the Syrian rebels in Turkey. According to our French sources, Tlass's father, Mustapha Tlass, who was the Minister of Defense for decades under the late Syrian President Hafez al Assad and is also a Sunni, was suspected of being a source for the CIA for a number of years. The elder Tlass is currently living in Paris and is reportedly undergoing "medical treatment."

Based on the types of e-mails released by WikiLeaks, it would strongly suggest that Assange had assistance from one or more western intelligence agencies with a high-level of computer espionage skills. During the Cold War, Syrian intelligence received high-level communications and operational security training from the Soviet KGB and East German Stasi, including encryption systems. 

Assange's latest release is similar to the effects that "cherry-picked" releases of U.S. State Department cables that came as George Soros-financed non-governmental organization (NGO)-instigated "themed revolutions" began in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt and swept from power the Ben Ali, Qaddafi, and Mubarak regimes from power.

However, Assange reportedly held back from release U.S. State Department cables that would have painted Israel in a bad light for its 2006 invasion of Gaza and its sneak attack on Lebanon the same year. In early 2010, Assange allegedly met with semi-official Israeli officials in Geneva and agreed to withhold a number of State Department cables embarrassing to Israel in return for cash.

In a December 1, 2010, interview with Time magazine, Assange stated that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was a "sophisticated politican" and "not a naive man." WMR has learned from intelligence sources in France and Lebanon that Assange has long been co-opted by Israel's Mossad.

Assange, who is currently avoiding extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault charges by living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and requesting political asylum in Ecuador, has selectively released State Department cables and "hacked" e-mails from the private intelligence firm Stratfor that paint Latin America's leading leftist leaders in a negative light. Among them are the CIA-deposed presidents of Honduras and Paraguay, Manuel Zelaya and Fernando Lugo, and President Evo Morales of Bolivia, former President Luis Inacio "Lula" da Silva of Brazil, and President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Ironically, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, who is currently considering whether to grant Assange asylum in Ecuador, was depicted negatively in State Department cables and Stratfor e-mails released by Assange.

Other selective WikiLeaks cable releases have highlighted unsubstantiated U.S. "intelligence" that Russian President Vladimir Putin had hidden billions of dollars outside of Russia, that Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko was "bizarre," and that China's leadership was planning to abandon North Korea. 

However, after RT, the former Russia Today global news network that broadcasts in English, Arabic, and Spanish, was mainstream media-ized about six to eight months ago, the network decided to give Assange his own interview format program on the Russian network. At the same time, there was a massive management and editorial shakeup at RT before Assange's program was featured. Based on the leak of the Syrian e-mails, which also implicate Russia and Putin, it appears that RT was subjected to an infiltration operation, which only Putin can rectify by cleaning house of the culpable senior management of the network.

Assange's request for asylum in Ecuador remains under review by Correa's government. However, the links that the Australian self-styled "computer hacker freedom fighter" has with the Israelis and Soros-linked media operations, likely has Ecuador's military and civilian intelligence services urging Correa to proceed with caution regarding Assange.

Assange claims he wants asylum in Ecuador because he fears extradition from Sweden to the United States on violations of the U.S. Espionage Act and could face the death penalty if convicted. However, the only information released concerning an indictment of Assange came from the very Stratfor e-mails Assange, himself, released earlier this year.

However, recently, the U.S. ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich, and the U.S. Consul General for New South Wales and Queensland, Niels Marquardt, told Australian audiences that there were no plans to extradite Assange to the United States. Assange commands virtual folk hero status in his native Australia. The U.S. diplomats' assurances that the United States was not interested in putting Assange on trial have been backed up by Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr. 

Assange recently stated that he ceased releasing State Department cables because he ran out of money. Money, and large amounts of it, has always been Assange's top priority, whether it has been from the Israelis or friends and supporters who lost their bail money when Assange skipped his bond when he entered the Ecuadorian embassy. The reason that intelligence agencies use "fly paper" limited hangout operatives like Assange is to burn anyone with whom they come into contact. Unfortunately, even an old KGB agent like President Putin can be taken in by the likes of a Julian Assange. President Correa is likely taking his time on Assange's asylum request in order to weigh the ramifications.

Courtesy: Opinion Maker