President Donald Trump is reportedly ending a covert CIA program to arm and train Syrian rebel forces that dates back to 2013. According to a report by the Washington Post, the decision was made almost a month ago in an Oval Office meeting with CIA Director Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
The revamped Pentagon program to train so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels to combat the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has produced less than 100 fighters since it was launched nearly six months ago, according to U.S. officials.
Foreign Desk News reported on Wednesday that Syrian jihadis have been using Facebook as a marketplace to “buy, sell and barter a wide variety of American-made weapons and munitions ranging from rocket launchers to machine guns.” Shortly after this report was posted, Facebook administrators took the page down.
A “grain of salt” warning must accompany reports from Seymour Hersh, who has made some fantastic claims during his career. With that in mind, his latest post in the London Review of Books alleges the U.S. military is sharing intelligence with the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad for the purpose of helping Assad’s military take down Islamic State and al-Qaeda rebels.
According to a final report from U.S. Central Command, issued as the third and final training class winds down, $385 million was spent on President Obama’s Syrian rebel training program to train 180 graduates, with only 95 of them currently active in Syria.
The Obama administration has ended the Pentagon’s failed $500 million program to train and equip so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), reports The New York Times (NYT).
U.S. officials declared on Monday that they are convinced Russian warplanes were deliberately targeting CIA-backed Syrian rebels.
Someone claiming to represent the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s franchise in Syria, says the newest reinforcements for the U.S.-backed “moderate” Syrian force have already surrendered, according to a report in the UK Telegraph.
A matter of days after 54 American-trained moderate Syrian Rebel Army fighters reported for duty, the New York Times reports that the commander of the unit plus seven of his fighters—including his second-in-command—have been kidnapped by the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda franchise, while they were returning from a meeting in Turkey.
WASHINGTON, DC — The Pentagon announced on Thursday that the U.S. has begun training about 90 Syrian rebels at an overseas location, adding that pro-Bashar al-Assad regime forces are losing momentum in their fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and other groups.
The moderate movement in Syria no longer exists, according to the International Business Times (IBT).
