US program to train, equip Syrian rebels not ending

Devastating reports suggest that when the program first arose, the USA was training and equipping over 54,000 moderate rebels, but that number has since dropped to a sad 100 rebel fighters, and only a handful of those have actually been in combat with enemy forces.

“Adjusting one programme, even if it were successful, will not solve the problem”.

“Many of our critics had proposed this specific option as essentially the cure-all for all of the policy challenges that we’re facing in Syria right now”, Earnest said. Officials said they held out the possibility that a few training might resume.

“There are many, many individuals in Syria who want to fight the regime”, said Christine Wormuth, the undersecretary of defense for policy. “We are now changing to a model that will produce more military combat capability”, the official said.

“I remain convinced that a lasting defeat of ISIL in Syria will depend in part on the success of local, motivated and capable ground forces”, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Friday, in announcing a “pause” in the Syrian training program.

Mrs Wormuth defended the Pentagon programme launched in May that trained only 60 fighters, falling far short of the original goal of 5,400 and so working out at a cost so far of almost $10 million per trained fighter.

The Pentagon did not name which groups would receive support. “I think you’ll be hearing from President Obama very shortly”.

The other surrendered much of its equipment, perhaps a quarter of its trucks and guns, to Al Nusra.

That includes rebels near the border with Turkey and members of the Syrian Arab Coalition.

The Pentagon will provide leaders of these groups with “basic” equipment, such as ammunition and communications gear, while vetting them for links to terrorism, and then call on them to identify and pinpoint Islamic State targets for airstrikes.

The change reflects mounting concerns over the “train-and-equip” program, once considered a centerpiece of the Obama administration’s strategy in Syria, which aimed to mobilize thousands of US-allied militants fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“We have not and will not agree to cooperate with Russian Federation as long as they continue to pursue this misguided strategy,” he said.

A USA official told CNN that the program is being suspended as the administration looks for other ways to support moderate opposition in Syria.

“We’re actually going after ISIL, which Russia’s not doing”, Rhodes said.

Pentagon officials told reporters that instead of training rebel units, the USA military would dole out weapons to favored commanders already on the ground.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation diplomatic sources said Moscow had given no advance warning of the missile strikes which came as a complete surprise.

USA 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.

“The program was a failure in everything,” he said.

Russian Federation has accepted return to has dialogue when using the Plant to confirm security of aircrafts during their ealier break failing advertising campaign in Syria on the Islamic State, the Pentagon has said.