US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter told reporters on Friday that President Barack Obama will overhaul the Pentagon’s training programme for moderate Syrian rebels, stating that a decision would be announced later on Friday.
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“The work we’ve done with the Kurds in northern Syria is an example of an effective approach where you have a group that is capable and motivated on the ground, so that you can enable their success”, Carter said.
In a statement, the Department of Defense said that it was now moving to “provide equipment packages and weapons to a select group of vetted leaders and their units”, who are poised to take territory currently controlled by the Islamic State. Officials said the equipment, which will be supplied to leaders of Syrian opposition groups, would include weapons, ammunition and communication equipment.
Ben Rhodes, the White House deputy national security adviser, said the new approach showed there had been “deficiencies” in the train-and-equip program that had to be addressed.
“So we’re counting on our fingers and toes at this point, when we had envisioned 5,400 by the end of the year”, Sen. Russian warplanes have conducted scores of strikes, and Moscow has fired a barrage of missiles at targets in Syria. The defense undersecretary said that Maj.
David Cameron has repeatedly made clear that while he wants to join the United States in attacking IS in Syria, he will only seek a Commons vote if he can be sure of victory, which would require the support of a significant number of Labour MPs.
According to reports, many newly U.S. trained rebels had surrendered themselves to rival groups as soon as they cross to the Syrian border.
Ash Carter has announced a “more strategic approach” in training troops in Syria.
The change reflects widespread concerns over failures to mobilize a credible U.S.-backed fighting force among so-called moderate rebels opposing the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is now supported by Russian military power. Lindsey Graham said the program was bound for failure from the start.
US officials have said the new effort would focus more on embedding recruits with established Kurdish and Arab units, rather than sending them directly into front-line combat.
Lawmakers in both parties had been growing increasingly critical of the program.
The United States has shelved a program that was meant to train moderate Syrian rebel fighters.
The revelation sparked a wave of criticism, but a few pointed out that the US-specifically, the CIA-is also conducting a moderately successful rebel-training program.
“We are now changing to a model that will produce more military combat capability”. Prior to Friday’s announcement, however, no one had ever heard of this coalition, which appears to be something that the Pentagon hopes to cobble together from existing “rebel” groups.
He added later, “Is it best to take those guys out and put them through training or to keep them on the line fighting and give them equipment and support?” “We got the politics wrong yet again”.
Obama’s Syria strategy has been been complicated by Russian Federation stepping into the conflict to defend Assad. He also endorsed an idea for an increased air campaign from an air base in Turkey, although important details of that plan still need to be worked out.
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Carter expressed dissatisfaction with the program, which to date has produced just 80 soldiers, most of whom have proved to be ineffective fighters.
