The U.S. will train and equip 1,200 Syrian rebels in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a U.S. Central Command official said Thursday.
Specifics of the U.S. plan to train moderate Syrians were first discussed by the Pentagon Wednesday, but at the time the training locations were not disclosed. According to the plan, up to 1,000 U.S. troops will work with the Syrians at the selected sites to train and equip them to combat the Islamic State, and then will return them to their cities inside Syria.
The first of the sites to come online will be in Turkey and Jordan, with Saudi Arabia available for training within three months, and Qatar available in six to nine months, Central Command said.
The first 100 U.S. troops are already doing advance work and have identified the 1,200 individuals who will be put through basic military training at the locations and provided equipment such as trucks and radios.
Follow-on U.S. forces that could bring the total U.S. involvement at the sites to 1,000 are expected to be in place in late March or April and would include security forces and trainers, Rear Adm. John Kirby said Wednesday.
“The training that they are going to be receiving [includes] basic military skills and organizational abilities,” Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said Wednesday. “So they can go back and defend their cities and go on the offensive eventually against [the Islamic State] in Syria.”
The 1,200 Syrians who have been identified were initially vetted by the staff of Army Maj. Gen. Michael Nagata, commander of American Special Operations forces in the Middle East and U.S. intelligence agencies.
The direct aid and training raised the question as to whether the U.S. may be taking a risk by providing military weapons to people who would strike against Syrian President Bashar Assad, potentially throwing the U.S. into the larger internal struggle between Syria’s government and rebels.
Kirby said an intense vetting process is hedging against that.
“The fight is against ISIL, and ISIL only,” Kirby said Wednesday, using the other name frequently used to identify the Islamic State.
