Monitors: US Sends 75 More Rebel Fighters Into Syria

After Last Group Was Virtually Wiped Out, US Sends More

Though there hasn’t been an official announcement from the US on the deployment yet, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that some 75 more US-trained rebels entered Syria Friday by way of the Turkish border and are somewhere near Aleppo.

This is the second round of rebels from the Pentagon scheme to create a “pro-US” faction on the ground in Syria. Back in July, the first class of rebels was sent. There were 54 of them to start, and last week officials confirmed there were “four or five” left.

While the deployment was sooner than expected, the number is also fewer than was expected, as only last week Centcom was telling Congress that the next “class” of rebels would be 100-125 strong. Throughout this endeavor, however, the numbers have gotten worse and worse.

Exactly what the new rebels are doing is unclear, but last week officials revealed that the plan is to stop having the tiny, ineffectual force fighting ISIS directly, and instead aims to have them “embed” with other factions to provide targeting information for US airstrikes.

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.