Pentagon Suspends Syrian Rebel Training Program Amid Criticism

The program to train and equip Syrian opposition forces has been suspended.

The Pentagon has come under fire – not just from Putin – for it’s apparent failure to train enough Syrian rebels to fight ISIS.

Russian Federation recently began sending weapons to the Syrian government to prop up President Bashar al-Assad, who is fighting against both the Islamic State group and separate U.S.-backed rebels.

In early September, General Lloyd Austin of U.S. Central Command revealed how the 500 million dollar program that hoped to train 5,000 fighters had only managed to train “5” fighters. Despite this, the USA will “continue with other aspects of the program, including recruiting, training, and supporting deployed personnel”, There is no timeline as to when new fighters will enter the training program.

The embattled programme, with its strict vetting requirements, has so far made no difference on the ground and has faced a number of embarrassing setbacks.

Pentagon officials are trying to get a handle on the narrative on last week’s surrender by US-trained Syrian rebels of large amounts of weaponry and vehicles to al-Qaeda, insisting the commander only agreed to do so to avoid an ambush by al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front that might’ve gotten his men killed. Seven members of the same force – including three of the group’s leaders – were captured. The programme has also run into trouble because many rebels also see the Assad regime as their primary enemy – not Isis.

Last week, only days after the latest group of 75 fighters entered the country, the Pentagon admitted that a few of them handed over six U.S.-issued trucks along with weapons and ammunition to the jihadist group.