The Dutch government faced a storm of protest from lawmakers Monday after a news report said it supported a Syrian opposition group which Dutch prosecutors had labelled a "terrorist" organisation.

Parliamentarians demanded answers after the report aired by the national public broadcaster said the Netherlands gave "non-lethal assistance" (NLA) to 22 armed opposition groups battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

The television programme, which worked together with the respected Christian-based Trouw newspaper, identified one group as Jabhat al-Shamiya, which it said had been supplied with pick-up trucks, uniforms and other equipment last year.

But at the same time, Dutch prosecutors in the port city of Rotterdam were prosecuting a suspected jihadist for belonging to the Jabhat al-Shamiya group, which they labelled in court papers as a "salafist and jihadist movement striving for a caliphate."

It was nothing more than a "criminal organisation with a terrorist aim," the prosecutors added in the court papers.

Monday's revelations come days after Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok's announcement that the government was cutting all support to "moderate" opposition groups in Syria which has been ravaged by seven years of civil war.

"Resulting from the regime's reclamation of large parts of Syria and the shrinking space for moderate opposition, cabinet has decided... to stop the NLA programme," Blok said in a letter sent to parliament on Friday.

But politicians, both from the opposition and from parties in Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's ruling coalition, said they demanded clarity.

"This (news report) screams for an answer," Christian Democrat party MP Pieter Omtzigt told AFP late Monday.

He said he and fellow CDA lawmaker Martijn van Helvert have been asking cabinet at numerous occasions to explain the Netherlands' support to opposition groups in Syria.

Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, MP for the progressive D66 party called it a "shocking report."

"How did this happen, despite all the warnings by lawmakers?" he was quoted as saying by the ANP national news service.

Omtzigt said cabinet was bound to a deadline on Tuesday in which it had to answer the questions, including whether any aid to Syria may have ended up with extremist groups.</s>The Dutch government has been supporting an armed group in Syria which has been branded a terrorist organisation by the public prosecution department, current affairs show Nieuwsuur reported on Monday night.

The Netherlands provided uniforms and pick-up trucks to the group known as Jabbat al-Shamiya in 2017, the programme said. Next week, a Dutch jihadi faces court for being a member of the same group.

The equipment was sent to the group as part of a secret programme providing ‘non-lethal’ assistance to 22 rebel groups in Syria from 2015 to the beginning of this year.

According to the public prosecutor Jabbat al-Shamiya is ‘salafist and jihadistic’, ‘strives for the setting up of the caliphate’ and can be qualified as nothing else but a ‘criminal organisation of terrorist intent’.

The fact that the government has supported the organisation in the past could upset the court case, according to legal experts. ‘A court could easily say that it would not convict someone for doing something which had been facilitated by the state,’ Geert-Jan Knops told broadcaster NOS.

Michiel Pestman, who represents the man facing trial in three weeks, told NOS the Nieuwsuur claims undermine the public prosecution’s case.

Stop

The Netherlands has admitted funding Syrian rebel groups but has always maintained they were moderate.

However, this weekend foreign minister Stef Blok and trade minister Sigrid Kaag sent a briefing to MPs explaining that the Netherlands has stopped funding the Syrian opposition in the civil war against president Assad.

The chance that rebel forces will be able to win the civil war is, the ministers say, now ‘extremely limited’. Dutch support for the rebels has ‘not had the desired effects’, the ministers said. The Netherlands had set aside €70m to fund the opposition.

Nieuwsuur says the letter was sent to MPs after it had confronted them with its findings. ‘These findings strengthen our conviction that the decision to stop the funding was the correct one,’ the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Debate

MPs said they were shocked by the Nieuwsuur broadcast and have called on ministers to explain how this could happen.

Much of the information has been declared secret but MPs still want ministers to explain to parliament what has been done. ‘What appears to have happened is exactly what we were afraid of,’ said ChristenUnie leader Gert-Jan Seegers.

In 2015, the CU attempted to have the financial support to Syrian rebel groups stopped but failed to get sufficient support.

Nieuwsuur later published more allegations, claiming that other groups funded by the Netherlands committed human rights violations and war crimes. The broadcaster said it bases its claims on interviews with some 100 ‘rebel leaders’ and people involved with the programme.</s>The Netherlands will end its support for Syrian militants, since the program did not yield the "expected" results. Earlier, journalists found one of the groups had been labeled 'terrorist' by the Dutch justice department.reads the letter the lower house of the parliament by Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok and Minister for Foreign Trade Sigrid Kaag,and [has] cost the country over $80 million (some €69 million) over the years, according to the document.and is to be closed since the Syrian troops "will soon win" the war against militant groups.Over the years, the Netherlands allocated $29 million (€25 million) to the(NLA) program, $14.5 million (€12.5 million) were donated to theand $17.1 million (€14,8 million) went to the(AJACS) program. The AJACS was supposedly designed to support "community police" work in Syria, specifically theaccording to the document. Since the White Helmets now operate only in the Idlib province, which is believed to be the destination of the looming offensive by the Syrian Army and its allies, their future is quite doubtful, the document states.by the two Dutch newspapers - Nieuwsuur and Trouw. According to their report , 22 armed militant groups were subjects to receive supplies through the NLA program. The "non-lethal" goods supplied by the Dutch government included satellite phones, uniforms, assorted equipment and even the 'iconic' Toyota Hilux pick-up trucks, widely used by various militant groups in Syria.At least one of the groups supplied by the Netherlands,the journalists have revealed. One Dutch man is currently prosecuted for joining the group back in 2015, withmovement which can qualify only as aThe ultimate goal of the group is creation of a "caliphate," according to the prosecution.the investigative report states. More information about the militants will be released by the two newspapers in the following days.The extent of the Dutch support to actual terrorists in Syria might be even bigger, since the other recipients openly named in the government letter are quite controversial, to say the least.The FSP has been operating exclusively in Syria's province of Idlib, largely controlled by the local Al-Qaeda branch, Al-Nusra Front (now rebranded as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham). The FSP got in limelight last December, when BBC aired the Panorama program titledThe program claimed that the FSP officers had to be approved by Al-Nusra henchmen to get enlisted into the "police force."Following the program's broadcastthrough the AJACS program, and ended it completely in August.The group has advertised itself as a volunteer force and Syria's "civil defense." The White Helmets have been widely praised in the West and even received an Oscar for a "documentary" movie.</s>At the height of the refugee crisis in 2015, the Netherlands took around 60,0000 refugees. Now the country is looking at how to integrate those who claimed asylum.

In a former sports ground in southwest Amsterdam, the "Startblok" housing complex accommodates refugees and Dutch people aged between 18 and 28.

It is partly run by the municipality of Amsterdam and features 565 units - studios and shared apartments - and communal living spaces.

As well as an integration platform, it is an important addition in a city where demand for housing often outstrips supply.

The block opened in 2016 and many of its residents have lived there from the beginning.

Al Jazeera spoke to refugees in the Starblok about Dutch culture.

"In the beginning when I moved here, I really hated it. I felt like I was in a new refugee camp but at some point, you make your room yours.

I've made it my personal space so I feel better about the place now. The nice thing is that every year we have a festival, so we get to know each other better.

From my perspective, however, it didn't really help cultures mix. You still see the same nationalities hanging around with each other.

I'm on the ground floor and when I first moved here, there was someone at my window looking in a lot.

You don't know if it's OK in this person's culture but I didn't feel safe. It's not perfect but it's not horrible.

I don't really like Dutch food but what I do like about the Dutch is that they are very direct and honest.

Sometimes it could be considered rude in other cultures, but at some point, you're done with the fake sweetness they have in Arab cultures.

When I came here I thought that's something I like, they say what they mean."

'T hey plan things so far ahead there isn't room for spontaneity'

"I've lived in Holland for three years and in the Starblok for two. I now work in Rotterdam and I'm helping to digitise the Eritrean language.

In the beginning the Startblok wasn't somewhere I wanted to live because it was just a placement for the municipality, but later on, when I met people I started to realise the importance of it.

At the start, there were some misunderstandings but now it's a common culture of everyone: you kind of create your own culture here.

I used to work here too. There's a foundation which is a part of the block and that opened up a lot of ways for me to meet people.

I've met a lot of Dutch people by living here.

When I first arrived in Holland, there were a lot of differences I had to get used to.

Dutch people are very direct which I like and they are also always on time.

However, they plan things so far ahead all the time there isn't much room for spontaneity. I don't see myself leaving Holland though. I'm now about to start a degree in cultural anthropology and the future seems brighter here."

"I've been living in the Startblok for two years.

When I first came to Amsterdam I didn't like it, I know that for many people it's the craziest city but I felt it was a bit boring and the lifestyle was very regimented: everyone just works five days a week and looks forward to their next holiday.

What I do like about the Dutch is their directness, I actually like that so much. In Syrian culture, the people aren't really direct at all.

The Startblok is nice but I'm not really connecting to the other people there. This is probably because I'm studying a lot so I really just go there to sleep.

The idea of it is really nice and it's good that they wanted us to integrate in this way.

I met one of my best friends who is Dutch at the Startblok.

I don't always think that they are successful in bringing everyone together. Sometimes they have workshops that not many people go to. I do like the point of it: After all, it is teaching people from both cultures about each other."

'It's difficult trying to learn Dutch'

"Integration is not an easy word. When I first moved to the Netherlands I had no idea what Dutch people were like.

I think it can be hard to get them to trust you but in general, I've found that the people I've met here have been very friendly and welcoming.

Sometimes it's difficult trying to learn Dutch as you speak to people in Dutch but they will just speak back to you in English because they speak it so well. You have to be strong and insist that they speak to you in Dutch.

Living in the Startblok has been amazing. I wouldn't have made the amount of friends I've made in two years if I'd been living alone.

There are so many different cultures here and I have made friends from many different places.

I don't see myself moving away for at least another two years.

It was difficult at the beginning, it was difficult to integrate, but I started going out and learning, speaking to people and finding a job.

Now, most of my friends are Dutch."

'I don't think that there is enough care for the people'

"I think I come from a different perspective as I'm actually working in integration so I'm a bit critical of Startblok.

The concept of it is really amazing; it's one of the biggest integration concepts as people are actually living together not just taking language courses.

I do think that there needs to be more done to look after some of the people living there who have certain needs that aren't being met.

The Startblok should be a model for further integration projects like this but the people running it aren't integration experts. From my perspective, I don't think it's going very well in the sense that I don't think that there is enough care for the people living there.

It was good for meeting people though and in general, I like Holland: it's got one of the highest qualities of life in the world. Dutch people are really nice but they are different too and I think that what we need to do is find the bridges between us."
Nieuwsuur reports the Dutch government has provided funding over the past two years to Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Shamiya, despite Dutch prosecutors describing the group as a "salafist and jihadistic" terror group and preparing to bring a man to trial next week accused of being a member.