Trained Syrian fighters refusing to fight

While the U.S. air campaign has conducted more than 4,600 strikes throughout Iraq and Syria, officials agree that some type of ground force is critical to permanently defeating the Islamic State. At least one of the U.S.-trained rebels was killed and others were wounded before the attack was repelled by U.S. airstrikes. “The Kurds alone won’t be sufficient, and trying to build another from scratch by the U.S. has failed”.

The programme, which launched in Might in Jordan and Turkey, was designed to coach as many as 5,400 fighters a yr. Washington admitted it couldn’t practice greater than 60 fighters, citing rigorous vetting of recruits.

“I think we have an obligation to do so”. The rebel group itself has said that only one of its US-trained fighters has disappeared. “And that we’re continually applying lessons learned and working as a coalition” to improve the training and equipping program.

“It risks being strangled in the cradle”, he said.

“It’s important to keep in mind that success does not hinge on one fight or one event, and we’re still in the early stages of implementing this program”, Ryder said.

While much of the talk focused on Donald Trump, numerous lasting impacts may be completely unrelated. “We recognize, though, that many of these groups now fight on multiple fronts, including against the Assad regime, ISIL and other terrorists”.

That incident will make it even more hard to recruit, Cafarella said.

Still, Tabler said, the program is unlikely to thrive until the Obama administration drops its restriction that trainees must pledge to fight the Islamic State, not the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. “The low numbers indicate that this program alone will be insufficient to effectively combat ISIS”, she said.

The Pentagon’s training program to create a pro-US Syrian rebel faction, now dubbed “Division 30”, has become a failure of colossal proportions. Davis said the high price tag was largely for start-up costs. He praised in particular Syrian Kurdish forces that largely had not come to U.S. attention when Congress approved the Syrian training program last September. He insisted, however, that the U.S. military is in contact with their commanders.

Syrian rebels trained by American forces are refusing to fight Al Qaida’s affiliate in the country – the Nusra Front.

However regardless of al-Nusra’s fierce hostility of ISIL, fighters from the Division 30 quickly got here beneath assault by the al-Qaeda loyalists, who consider that the US-backed battalion would find yourself battling them.