US decides to allow airstrikes to defend Syrian rebels

The new “defensive” air power strategy was reportedly first implemented on Friday, when U.S.-backed rebels came under fire from al-Nusra Front, a group closely affiliated with al-Qaeda.

The Pentagon says the train-and-equip mission is designed to develop “appropriate vetted Syrian opposition forces to counter ISIL and that their role is to both defend the Syrian people from attacks by ISIL and secure territory controlled by the Syrian opposition”. “This is not something we view as inviting confrontation with Assad in any way”.

There was no official comment from Damascus.

The decision comes as the U.S. and Turkey discussed joint operations to clear a zone from militants of the Islamic State (IS/ISIS) along the Turkey-Syria border.

Under current guidelines, U.S. forces can only conduct offensive missions against the Islamic State, and can’t go after other groups such as Assad government forces, largely due to worries it would set off war with Syria. Elissa Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

“I fear that this new incremental step, like previous ones, may only serve to deepen our military involvement in Syria without bringing us closer to achieving our objectives”, McCain said.

U.S. officials tell the paper that the Assad regime has so far heeded warnings not to interfere in the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS, which has included airstrikes in support of Kurdish and other Arab forces.

The training program has been challenged from the start, with many candidates being declared ineligible and some even dropping out. The U.S. responded with airstrikes against Nusra on Friday.

Hagel: We will help them and we will support them, as we have trained them.

A representative for Division 30, which was one of the targeted rebel groups, said Nusra Front fighters attacked the group’s headquarters near Azaz about 4.30 a.m., killing five members.

The new rules that the Pentagon recommended and Obama approved will apply only to militant forces trained and equipped by the United States, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

Al-Nusra said some of its fighters were killed in US air strikes against their positions near the city of Aleppo.

“Our offensive operations in Syria are limited to anti-ISIL”, Davis said, using another acronym for ISIS, “but with regards to the new Syrian forces, they could potentially face a broader range of threats”. Others, however, warned that numerous rebel groups are primarily focused on overturning the Syrian government, and that supporting them would put the U.S. into a messy war with a sovereign nation that has sophisticated air defenses. There, he quickly joined the anti-regime Free Syrian Army, before moving to a smaller Turkmen brigade and then to the so-called 30th Division, created by the United States and its allies as the vanguard of Washington’s effort to roll back the Islamic State’s territorial gains.

Further airstrikes are doubtless, officers stated, because the U.S.-trained unit seeks methods to confront Islamic State, which Obama has vowed to destroy. 1st Class Sheryl L. Lawry, U.S. Central Command spokeswoman.

The army has six lively investigations open, together with 4 in Iraq and two in Syria.