U.S. officials disclosed to Reuters on Sunday that the United States has decided to allow air strikes to help defend against any attack on the U.S.-trained Syrian rebels, even if the attackers come from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “Ultimately we must consider this military escalation will be used against the Assad government”. “Most of those groups or people, the department said, were front companies that the Syrian regime and its supporters have leaned on to avoid U.S. and European Union sanctions”.
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There was no official comment from Damascus.
An official minimized the possibility of the U.S trained rebels confronting the pro-Assad forces because they had pledged to fight only the Islamic State.
Last week Turkey and the U.S. announced the formation of a “safe zone” that will require Turkish and American air forces to bomb Islamic State group militants in order to rout them from their posts along the border. Elissa Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
When he spoke to the Center for Public Integrity in July, Jassem had passed an initial round of vetting to join the training and said he expected to participate in the next class – so long as the US coalition kept its promises to the first set of graduates, especially a promise that the coalition would “protect us against our enemies after the program ends”, he said. He called the airstrikes another measure “to protect them”.
The drone strikes come after a deeply embarrassing incident last week when a group of rebels who had gone through the training program were captured nearly immediately upon entering the country by Nusra fighters. If true, this makes President Obama’s new rules of engagement in Syria appear more political and not plausible under US military operations. The more moderate rebel groups and Al Nusra worked together in Idlib to defeat regime forces.
On Friday, U.S. aircraft took the unusual step of conducting strikes against fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra, which had reportedly attacked the U.S.-backed unit.
In the past week, reports have emerged of al-Qaeda’s Syrian faction, Jabhat al-Nusra, capturing a number of top members of the US-trained “Division 30”, also known as the “New Syrian Force”. The Pentagon-backed force is now located somewhere in northern Syria. As noted, administration officials have been questioned about this multiple times by Congress and been told basically, “we will get back to you”.
While offensive U.S. and coalition airstrikes in Syria will be limited to Islamic State targets, the New Syrian Forces ” could potentially face a broader range of threats”, said Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis.
Under the new rules authorized by the White House, the U.S. will continue to launch offensive airstrikes, only against ISIS. U.S. officials say those warnings have been heeded thus far. 1st Class Sheryl L. Lawry, U.S. Central Command spokeswoman. Four other investigations have been completed, including the one involving the two children.
“We apply very rigorous requirements in our concentrating on course of to keep away from or to attenuate civilian casualties within the first place”, Lawry stated. “We take great care – from analysis of available intelligence to selection of the appropriate weapon to meet mission requirements – in order to minimize the risk of collateral damage, particularly any potential harm to noncombatants”.
Al-Nusra Front – Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate – is one of the most powerful insurgent groups in Syria.
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Doctrinally, once the US military has achieved air superiority, they use attack helicopters, armor, and artillery to defend ground troops. Again, the White House or the Pentagon should immediately articulate this legal basis publicly, but given their pattern of behavior we certainly should not expect them to do so.
