The Obama administration’s strategy to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria appears to be unraveling in Syria, with the extremist group reportedly cooperating with al Qaeda forces to rout U.S.-backed rebels.
One of the key elements of the administration’s plan for Syria is to arm and train moderate rebels to complement the air assault on the extremist group that began in September. But the training program hasn’t started, and the rebel groups on which the plan depends are being crushed between the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Islamist extremists. Observers and rebel leaders say the U.S.-led bombing campaign has made it easier for its enemies to gang up on them.
News reports and monitoring groups said Monday that moderate groups tied to the Free Syrian Army are being crushed in their onetime stronghold of the northern province of Idlib as the al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State cooperate to defeat them. Many rebels belonging to U.S.-supported groups such as Harakat Hazm and the Syrian Revolutionary Front have surrendered or defected under the onslaught, and Jabhat al-Nusra fighters were closing in on a key border crossing that provided the moderate rebels with a lifeline to Turkey.
“Moderate forces in Syria are engaged in a multi-front conflict and that multi-front conflict is taking a toll on them, there’s no doubt about that,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday.
The rebels’ frustration was evident in a YouTube video released over the weekend showing Syrian Revolutionary Front leader Jamal Marouf cursing Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State.
“Why are you fighting us?” he asks. “You have only come out to give victory to Bashar al-Assad.”
The gains by the extremists came as administration officials met Monday at the State Department with ambassadors from 35 countries involved in the coalition against the Islamic State. The group met to discuss ways to strengthen their efforts.
“Today’s plenary session with partner ambassadors illustrates how strongly the global community is united in degrading and defeating [the Islamic State], and our shared commitment to continued coordination of our efforts,” the State Department said.
But the latest news is more likely to strengthen perceptions that the administration’s Syria policy is in disarray, to the benefit of both the Islamic State and Assad.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was forced Thursday to confront reports that he was critical of the administration’s failure to clarify its intentions toward Assad. While sidestepping the issue, he repeated the administration’s line that Syria was a difficult issue that requires patient handling.
The latest official to plead for patience was from Earnest, who noted that Obama has said the campaign would take a long time. “We’re still at the early stages, and as with any military effort there will be days of progress and there are going to be periods of setback.
“So this is not a short-term proposition.”
Syria consistently has been an afterthought in the administration’s strategy of confronting the Islamic State, and U.S. officials continue to insist that fighting the extremist group in Iraq remains the priority.
And though Congress quickly moved to give Obama the authority he needed to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels, that process has not begun and fielding the first group of fighters is at least a year away.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that a command-and-control apparatus is in place, sites have been selected and coalition partners have identified trainers, but no prospective recruits had been selected or vetted.
Meanwhile, most of the coalition airstrikes in Syria over the past month have centered around helping Kurdish fighters hold off the Islamic State in the border town of Kobani, including four attacks Sunday and Monday.
