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US Plans to Deploy Pentagon-Trained Syrian Rebels, Provide Air Cover
from Sputnik News:
In its ongoing struggle to contain the self-proclaimed Islamic State, the Pentagon is about to deploy its second batch of “moderate” US-trained fighters.
Last month, reports surfaced that the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front had captured a large number of the 60 US-trained Syrian fighters sent to combat IS. Their capture highlighted just one of several key problems in the Pentagon’s plan to train so-called “moderate” rebels.
But despite this early failure, Washington is pushing forward with its plan, and will soon send a group of fighters to push IS away from the Turkish border.
“Although there has been some skepticism about it, it is far too early to write off this program,” a diplomatic source familiar with the program told Reuters. “Massive resources have been invested in this to make it work and we think it will work in the end.”
In many ways, that skepticism is valid. While the Pentagon initially hoped to train over 1,000 moderate fighters to combat the terrorist group in Syria, that number has dwindled considerably or the simple reason that the Pentagon is unable to find moderates.
“We are trying to recruit and identify people who…can be counted on…to fight, to have the right mindset and ideology,” US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told the House Armed Services Committee in June.
“It turns out to be very hard to identify people who meet both of those criteria.”
