US Begins Training of 'Moderate' Syrian Rebels to Fight ISIS

[Purveyor]

Source: Military Times


Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, answers a reporter's questions as Defense Secretary Ash Carter listens during a press conference at the Pentagon, May 7, 2015. (DoD photo by Glenn Fawcett)

May 07, 2015 | by Richard Sisk

The U.S. this week began training and equipping about 90 Syrian opposition fighters in the long-stalled effort to build a force of about 5,000 to combat ISIS, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Thursday.

Carter declined to say where the training was taking place but it was believed to be in Turkey.

"I'd rather not talk about location," Carter said, underlining the sensitivity of the program for U.S. allies in the region.

At a Pentagon briefing, Carter also was vague on whether the U.S. would back the force with airstrikes once it is deployed and whether the U.S. was prepared to supply the rebels with heavy weapons.

Read more: http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/05/07/us-begins-training-of-moderate-syrian-rebels-to-fight-isis.html

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US Training of Moderate Syrian Rebels Has Begun in Jordan

(NEW YORK) — The U.S. training program for moderate Syrian rebels has begun in Jordan, the Pentagon confirmed on Thursday.

The initial training, says Defense Secretary Gen. Ash Carter, involves about 90 Syrian rebels. A second group is expected to begin training in the coming weeks. A U.S. Defense official told ABC News that the training site is in Jordan, though Carter did not identify the site in his Thursday news conference.

Once trained, the rebels are expected to return to Syria. Officials anticipate that taking place in “a few months.”

“If they are contested by regime forces,” Carter acknowledged, “we would have some responsibility to help them.” He added that it had not yet been determined how that responsibility would be exercised. Still, if the trained rebels were to be overrun by ISIS militants, “we definitely would absolutely work to protect them,” Carter said.

At the news conference it was also noted that the trained forces would receive some form of paid compensation from the U.S.

more...

http://www.mycentraloregon.com/2015/05/07/us-training-of-moderate-syrian-rebels-has-begun-in-jordan/

[potone]

1. I thought that Obama said that there were no moderate Syrian rebels.

Have I got this wrong?

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. Well, there are an estimated 100,000 or so Syrian rebels. We found 90 moderate ones.

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. And here we go. We're about to go to war against Damascus.

“If they are contested by regime forces,” Carter acknowledged, “we would have some responsibility to help them.” He added that it had not yet been determined how that responsibility would be exercised. Still, if the trained rebels were to be overrun by ISIS militants, “we definitely would absolutely work to protect them,” Carter said.

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They haven't determined yet how they would do that.

But I'd wager it would involved the US Air Force attacking the troops of the Syrian government. Which, I would point out, has not attacked us or threatened to attack or us threatened to attack anyone else.

[Jesus Malverde]

4. It's a neocon adventure.

Discusting really.

[Nihil]

5. Gosh! You managed to penetrate the camouflage on the Empire's latest excursion!

It's not like there is any pattern of aberrant behaviour in the past or anything is it?

Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama, ... (Clinton II?)

"I know it has failed so many times in the past but if we keep doing it, it is bound to
work sometime isn't it?"

[AngryAmish]

6. go to youtube, there are a lot of videos featuring cia supplied tow missles

We have been arming the rebels for years. And we are lied to about it. We are arming jihadis who hate the West.

Giving precision guided missles to jihadis. A civilian airplane will be destroyed. And I know a TOW is not an antiaircraft missle, but planes do sit on the ground.