The US has started training the first group of
90 moderate Syrian fighters, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters at the
Pentagon on Thursday. The fighters, which have been “highly vetted,” should be
ready to begin fighting ISIS extremists within a “few months,” though Carter
emphasized they are not being trained to fight against Syrian President Bashar
Assad’s forces. The Syrians will be
trained
and armed by US troops in a “secure location” and, if necessary, will be
supported in battle by US forces, with airborne intelligence, surveillance, and
reconnaissance, as well as air strikes, Carter said. “Of course we would have
some responsibility to protect those forces,” he said at a Pentagon briefing.
“Their mission would be to fight [ISIS] ... We do expect to support them in
that fight. If contested by regime forces, we would have some responsibility
there too,” he said when questioned. What kind of support would be provided has
not been decided. Asked how the US would keep the trained Syrians from
attacking Assad, who was the target when the civil war started two years ago,
Carter said that would be influenced by where they were positioned and how they
were trained. “They are not being asked by us, it’s not part of the program,”
for them to fight Assad’s forces, he said.
