Syrian Rebels Scorn New US Training Scheme

Declare Efforts to Fight ISIS Instead of Assad as 'Insult'

With US and Jordanian officials touting the beginning of a new scheme to train a brand new rebel faction for Syria, which they are planning to send after ISIS, the existing Syrian rebel groups are non too impressed.

The principle is wrong – very wrong,” noted one of the rebels, saying they find it “an insult” that the US is telling these new rebels they’ll be fighting ISIS instead of the Assad government.

The old rebel factions, once awash in US arms, are primarily irked by this new scheme because the US has decided these old groups have failed, and are hoping to create a new rebellion to replace them.

Even within the US, there doesn’t seem to be much hope for these new rebels, with the Pentagon saying its $500 million scheme will produce about 5,000 rebels in the next year or two, a drop in the bucket compared to massive factions like ISIS. Pentagon officials likewise are conceding that they aren’t sure how much support they’re going to give these new rebels when they start losing, because there’s little doubt they will lose, but are continuing on with the plan for lack of anything better to do.

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.