US to supply arms, gear to vetted rebel chiefs

An official announcement of the termination of the scheme was due to take place Friday, after Defense Secretary Ashton Carter left London having completed talks about the wars in Syria and Iraq.

The change was a recognition of the failure of US President Barack Obama’s flagship anti-IS training programme which initially seeks to recruit 5,400 Syrian rebels each year for three years.

The new approach to equip Syrian rebels will begin in the next few days, relying more on strategies used with Kurdish forces in the northern part of the country, said Carter, who was in London to meet with British Defense Minister Michael Fallon as part of a five-day trip to address security concerns within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation alliance.

“I believe the changes we are instituting today will, over time, increase the combat power of counter-ISIL forces in Syria and ultimately help our campaign achieve a lasting defeat of ISIL”, Carter said in a communique.

For now, Wormuth said, the USA won’t be providing advanced weapons like anti-tank rockets and shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles. The closure of the program signals an admission by the administration that it has failed to adequately train Syrian rebel forces to fight against ISIS. The goal was to give the US a serious foothold without requiring major commitments of troops.

The decision would be announced later Friday, he told journalists, saying: “I think you’ll be hearing very shortly from him in that regard about the proposals that he has approved and that we are going to go forward with”.

Pentagon chief Ash Carter said he had been unhappy with the results of the effort to train Syrians in Turkey and then dispatch them back to their homeland to fight the Islamic State.

The Pentagon said it would shift its focus away from training to providing weapons and other equipment to rebel groups whose leaders have passed a us vetting process to ensure they are not linked to militant Islamist groups.

The top US commander in the Middle East, Gen. Lloyd Austin, acknowledged that the program got off “to a slow start” and he told Congress that he looking at options that would best employ the moderate forces.

Earlier Friday, the Pentagon said it has been reviewing the progress of the program since its inception and worked on how the program could be improved. The official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss details of the program, did not know whether the Pentagon would also provide arms to the rebel forces.

The United States would also provide air support to rebels as they battle Islamic State, Mr Cook said.