Four members of the U.S.-trained New Syrian Force have entered Syria since Wednesday, a Defense Department spokesman said Friday.
That brings the total number of New Syrian Force fighters in Syria to nine, up from the bleak estimate of five that Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command, provided at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing this week.
Col. Pat Ryder, a spokesman for Central Command, said that in addition to the nine fighters now active in Syria, there are 11 NSF fighters who are not yet in Syria.
That means the total number of fighters remaining from the $500 million train-and-equip program is 20.
Accounting for the rest of the initial class of 54, 14 are fighting in Syria but are with their U.S.-vetted parent opposition group, 18 are in Syria but their specific whereabouts are unknown, one is reportedly dead and one was taken captive by the al-Nusra Front.
Ryder said that to his knowledge, none of the fighters who can’t be accounted for have joined an enemy group like the al-Nusra Front.
He also said that all of the U.S.-provided equipment is accounted for, even for the 18 fighters whose whereabouts are unknown. That equipment is being used by a “moderate opposition group” with which the U.S. has contact, Ryder said.
Despite the first graduating class getting off to a rough start, Ryder said officials “continue to see a heightened number of interest,” with 7,000 Syrians trying to join the program. That number is likely to drop significantly after officials vet them and reject those who are too young, have previous ties to terrorist organizations or have a medical condition that makes them ineligible to fight.
There is currently a fourth class in training and about 100 recruits are at the two operational training sites, Ryder said. The “majority” of that group have either completed the U.S. training or are nearing completion and will return to Syria “in the near future.”
Austin’s testimony that only four or five Syrian fighters remained from the original 54 drew criticism from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who deemed the program a failure.
Despite that blowback among Congress, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook told reporters that the program “in some form of fashion, will continue.”
