USA cancels program to train Syrian rebels

WASHINGTON (AP) – The US says CIA-backed rebels in Syria had begun to seriously pressure President Bashar Assad’s forces. The USA military warned it would not accept a Russian offer to hold more talks until it first received a formal response to those proposals, something the Pentagon said has now arrived.

The program has trained only a handful of rebels in the fight against the Islamic State.

A senior Pentagon official said there would no longer be any more recruiting of so-called moderate Syrian rebels to go through training programmes in Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates.

According to a person in Chechyna who works with state-approved Muslim clerics, an order has gone out from the local government to preach in mosques about the pitfalls of joining Islamic State. USA officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Thursday that four missiles crashed in Iran.

“Militants are sustaining substantial losses under the Russian airstrikes and are having to change their tactics, to scatter their forces, to carefully disguise themselves and hide in settlement”, he said.

Russia’s use of cruise missiles has also fueled anxious about mishaps in the skies over Syria and the need for Moscow to agree to certain flight safety procedures proposed by the U.S.

Assad is from the Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Last month, Islamic State circulated a statement on social media saying the group’s affiliates in Dagestan had attacked a military housing compound and killed several soldiers. “If so, that would indicate malfunctions of those missiles”, Carter said. It said the attack is believed to have been carried out by Islamic State militants.

In January, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ali Allahdadi was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Syria that also killed six Lebanese Hezbollah fighters. US proposals, outlined during a secure video conference between the USA and Russian militaries last week, included maintaining a safe distance between US and Russian aircraft and using common radio frequencies for distress calls.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin says it does not know of such reports. He said the US also should provide arms to the Ukrainian government fighting Russian-backed separatists.

The Russians have complained about the narrow scope of the United States talks and Russian deputy defence minister Anatoly Antonov said Moscow wants broad discussions on global co-operation with the coalition fighting IS. Angus King, I-Maine, who serves on the Intelligence and Armed Services committees.