The United States is losing the war against the jihadist Islamic State, with only “four or five” out of the 54 rebels trained by the American military still alive and active in the battlefield, facing an estimated 30,000 heavily armed ISIS fighters, multiple defence officials have revealed.
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Asked whether any of these U.S.-trained fighters have joined any terror groups, Ryder said that to the best of his knowledge none of them have.
Christine Wormuth, undersecretary of defense for policy, said the USA now was training more than 100 fighters, then later in her testimony said more specifically the number was between 100 and 120.
The pro-US Syrian rebel faction, dubbed the New Syrian Force (NSF) in most official contexts, is virtually gone now, with virtually everybody either killed or having fled.
The new plan will focus on putting pressure on Raqqa, a city in Syria that the Islamic State has declared the capital of the area it now holds that straddles the border of Syria and Iraq.
That’s far from the thousands the Pentagon hoped to have by now.
“It’s a small number”, Austin allowed.
“We’re counting on our fingers and toes at this point, when we’d envisioned 5,400 [fighters] by the end of the year”, Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, said at the hearing.
USA officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the option cited might significantly reduce the size of the program, creating an “enabling” force that could, for example, help call in U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. However, he insisted that the program would bring results and said that “progress is being made” against the terror group in Syria. Another Republican senator, Jeff Sessions, said: “We have to acknowledge this is a total failure”. The Pentagon also made it clear that us military troops have done no training in Syria.
It’s time for the US and its allies to think outside the box. “It is taking a bit longer to get things done, but it must be this way if we are to achieve lasting and positive effects”, Austin said.
The remarks by Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, head of US Central Command, before a Senate panel on Wednesday set off a wave of criticism from congressional lawmakers, who are wary of the Obama administration’s strategy towards the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group. Under withering questioning from Mr. McCain, Gen. Austin repeated that he would not recommend establishing such a safe zone “at this time”.
“I have never seen a hearing that is as divorced from the insight of every outside expert”, Sen.
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John McCain said the failure had resulted in the Syrian refugee crisis.
