Syrian Train and Equip Program
The Syrian Train and Equip Program is a United States-led military operation launched in 2014 that identified and trained selected Syrian opposition forces inside Syria as well as in Turkey and other US-allied states who would then return to Syria to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The program reportedly cost the US $500 million.[1] It is a covert program, run by U.S. special operations forces, separate from Timber Sycamore, the parallel covert program run by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[2] As of July 2015, only a group of 54 trained and equipped fighters (Division 30) had been reported to have been deployed, which was quickly routed by al-Nusra,[3] and a further 75 were reported in September 2015.[4]
Planning and training[edit]
As of 4 November 2014, the United States Department of Defense was preparing for the establishment of the program. Trainers were being contributed by various countries in the counter-ISIL coalition.[22] The Obama Administration hoped to identify reliable non-Islamist Syrian rebels currently in Turkey. The Pentagon identified 7,000 potential candidates for the program.[23] After verifying their identities and passing initial tests, the candidates were trained in tactics and advanced weapons systems by the Department of Defense. The rebels were then outfitted with American equipment, and sent back over the border to Syria. Washington hoped to train an army of 15,000 rebels to fight ISIS.[24]
Turkey allowed about 1,000 U.S. troops involved in the training program to enter Turkey.[25] The United Kingdom announced in March 2015 that it would send 75 military trainers to Turkey as part of the U.S.-led effort.[26]
Deployment[edit]
The first group of 154 men completed a training program in Jordan and Turkey, organized in the new Division 30 of the FSA, established specifically to fight ISIS, commanded by Colonel Nedim Hasan, a Turkmen defector from the Syrian Army, aided by the Syrian Group Captain Sahir Mustafa.[27] The Jordanian-trained group, 100 men who had completed a 54-day program, re-entered Syria in late June 2015. The Turkish-trained group, a convoy of 54 men who had completed a 74-day program in central Anatolia, re-entered Syria on 12 July,[27] and deployed to Azaz. However, fighters from al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra regarded Division 30 fighters as "American agents" and kidnapped seven Division 30 fighters on July 29, attacked its headquarters on July 31, and—despite US air support—kidnapped at least five more fighters a few days later. Al-Nusra posted photos on social media the next day showing American weapons and equipment that they had captured from the group.[2][28] By September, the Pentagon acknowledged that there were only "four or five" fighters left of the Turkish-trained group of 54, with only 100–120 in the three classes then being trained.[29][30]
Seventy five Syrian rebels trained by the United States and its allies to fight Islamic State had entered northern Syria since Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday, 20 September 2015. Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory, said the rebels had crossed into Syria from Turkey with 12 vehicles equipped with machine guns.[31][4] Soon afterwards however, there were reports on Twitter by al-Nusra that many of the group handed over their brand-new trucks, weapons and ammunition to the al-Nusra Front, almost immediately after crossing the border back into Syria.[4][32]