Pentagon Proposes Training Syrian Rebels

CIA Already Doing So, Pentagon Wants In

According to administration officials, the Pentagon has put forward a proposal for direct US military training and equipping of Syria’s rebel forces, formally putting the US military in direct contact with rebel fighters.

It’s a first, of sorts. The US is already training and arming Syria’s rebels, of course, but is doing so with the CIA taking the helm. That’s allowed the US to keep the details of the operations secret, but officials have also regularly bragged about the policy.

Having the Pentagon either replace or supplant the CIA efforts would theoretically give the policy more transparency, but seems primarily aimed at escalating the US role in the civil war.

General Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs Chairman, had hinted at seeking Pentagon authority on the matter in recent testimony, saying that the military “knows” it can turn the moderate rebels into a viable fighting force.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.