More than 2,500 Syrians have gone through initial screening to be trained and equipped to fight against the Islamic State, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
The potential recruits, 450 of whom have passed through initial screening and are now going through a more advanced screening process, are part of the Pentagon’s plan to flank the Islamic State’s fighting positions in Syria with U.S.-trained and equipped moderate Syrian rebels.
To accomplish this, more than 1,000 U.S. trainers and security personnel are opening four training sites – in Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan – to train vetted Syrians on basic fighting skills and equip them with weapons and vehicles. The trained Syrians would then be re-inserted in their hometowns to deny further Islamic State advances.
The plan faces challenges. Even if the moderate rebels keep their promise to attack only the Islamic State and do not target the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, with whom they have been fighting a devastating civil war for the last four years, there’s no promise that Assad’s forces wouldn’t attack them anyway. And if Assad does attack, it’s not clear if the trained Syrians would receive any additional U.S. support or be left to fend for themselves.
Last month Defense Secretary Ashton Carter struggled to explain how, or whether, the U.S. would be able to offer protection to the U.S.-trained Syrian rebels if they come under attack by Assad’s forces, saying at the time there was not a legal determination on whether the U.S. could further engage after returning the Syrians to the battlefield. In that same week, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said the current authorized use of force does not include defending the rebels against any potential attacks by Assad.
Asked Wednesday if the Defense Department has clarified whether U.S. forces would be authorized to defend U.S.-trained Syrians rebels if they are attacked by Assad, a senior military official said the issue is still being debated internally and no decision has been made.
