“This report uncovers clear evidence of a deliberate, co-ordinated campaign of collective punishment of civilians in villages previously captured by [ISIL]”, said Amnesty’s Lama Fakih. The program had sought to train a few 5,400 rebels but in the end only managed to produce a handful of combat-ready fighters.
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Smith declined to provide details about which rebel groups received the supplies, the location of the groups or the equipment supplied.
The Pentagon said the more than 100 pallets dropped in Hassakeh were collected safely.
It’s just short of a year since the United States last dropped weapons to YPG, which at the time was battling to beat off an Islamic State offensive against the town of Kobani.
“The airdrop includes small arms ammunition”. The only group on the ground to have success against Islamic State while cooperating with the U.S.-led coalition is a Kurdish militia, the YPG, which has carved out an autonomous zone in northern Syria and advanced deep into Islamic State’s stronghold Raqqa province. The Syrian government also has a presence in the provincial capital.
Abu Mohamed al-Jolani has appealed to jihadists in the Caucasus to attack Russian civilians and soldiers.
In noting that the first airdrop was to “Arab groups”, a Pentagon spokeswoman said “we share the concern of our Turkish partners over the sensitivity of expanding Kurdish control into traditionally non-Kurdish areas in Syria”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that Russia is “working in strict compliance with the global law, at the request of the Syrian authorities”, according to Press TV. However, the jihadist group is believed to have only a limited presence in Hama.
Several parties in the Syrian opposition have regarded the YPG as an ally to the Syrian regime in the Kurdish region, because of the careful line the Kurdish forces have taken since the start of the anti-Assad uprising in 2011. Moscow claims it, too, is targeting IS and “terrorists” but the Pentagon says the vast majority of strikes have been against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad. We know it. But there are a few situations where there is no other option.
Why is there a war in Syria?
In a congressional hearing held in September, General Lloyd Austin, who oversees the war against the IS, told USA lawmakers that only “four or five” U.S.-trained Syrian rebels now remained in fight in Syria and the US military would not reach its goal of training 5,400 Syrian fighters any time soon.
More than 250,000 people have died and more than 4 million have been displaced by the Syrian civil war.
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How has the world reacted?
