White House: Airstrikes Won’t Work Without Viable Syrian Rebel Force

Strategy Reliant on 'Something Not Yet in Place'

Addressing the escalating ISIS war, White House spokesman Josh Earnest sought to downplay expectations of the air campaign actually doing anything, insisting the strategy “is reliant on something that is not yet in place.”

That is a Syrian “opposition” faction that is capable of fighting ISIS on the ground evenly, something which flat out doesn’t exist, as ISIS is by far the largest and best equipped rebel faction.

Congress funded an administration scheme to create a new pro-US rebel faction out of wholecloth earlier in the war, though the Pentagon says it has yet to make “critical decisions” on the training strategy.

Even then, the scheme aimed to have 5,000 rebels trained and armed within a year, meaning the US campaign in Syria will be by its own admission spinning its wheels for a solid year, just hoping they can cobble together a brand new force that can somehow rout ISIS.

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.