U.S.-trained Syrian rebels fighting the Islamic State have the
equipment and the training to call in airstrikes, but have yet to be
authorized to do so, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the
program.
“We have real time communication, the ability to track
friendly locations, everything,” said the official, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly comment
on the program.
The disclosure is the clearest indication to
date that the U.S. military is at least preparing for a deeper and more
direct involvement in the Syrian conflict than the Obama administration
has so far been willing to approve. The question of how much support
U.S.-trained rebels might receive once re-inserted into Syria has
hovered over the Pentagon training program since it was announced last
year.
The official said U.S. trained rebels are being given
extensive instruction on how to summon airstrikes by U.S. or coalition
aircraft. “The process is well rehearsed,” he said.
[Syrian rebels get their first U.S.-trained fighters]
If
allowed, vetted-rebels would radio their coordinates and the enemy’s
location to teams in the region set up to coordinate with U.S.
and coalition aircraft. The targeting information would have to be
corroborated through additional “backdrops” — a reference to other
intelligence assets — before a strike could be approved. The official
added that Kurdish fighters have used similar methods while fighting in
the town of Kobane.
Army Maj. Roger Cabiness, a Pentagon
spokesman, declined to comment on whether rebels were being trained or
equipped to request air support, but said the instruction covers “a
range of combat basics, including casualty care, land navigation,
marksmanship, communications, leadership, and the law of armed
conflicts.”
A McClatchy report this month reported that the rebels will be able to call in airstrikes.
The U.S.-backed rebels, known by the Pentagon as the New Syrian Force, are being trained by the Army’s 5th Special Operations Group, a Green Beret detachment that was one of the first American units to enter Afghanistan in 2001.
Pentagon
officials have said that rebels participating in the training program
are being subjected to an extensive screening process that includes
polygraph examinations. They are also required to sign a pledge that
their priority will be to fight against the Islamic State terror
group, rather than the forces of Syrian President Bashir al-Assad.
While the initial legislation for the $500 million training program
broadly outlines that the U.S. can provide the U.S.-trained rebels
“assistance,” there are also classified documents that explicitly state
that the U.S. can provide direct close air support to them, according to
the official.
But the White House has yet to make a decision
about what additional support might be provided to the fighters who have
been sent back into Syria, or about what the U.S. response would be if
they came into conflict with forces loyal to Assad.
U.S.
officials have not publicly explained the apparent reluctance to provide
air support, but it may stem from concerns that the units are
relatively untested in combat, or that units being reinserted to fight
the Islamic State could seek to use coalition aircraft against Assad.
“The hesitancy to grant these guys air support show a lack of
understanding by the White House of unconventional warfare,” said David
Maxwell, a former Special Forces colonel and associate director of
Georgetown University’s security studies program. “A train and equip
program is insufficient to achieve our national goals…it’s too little,
too late.”
When pressed during a Senate Armed Service Committee hearing about
the United States’ duty to protect the Syrian forces it has trained,
Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter said, “I think we have some
obligations to them once they are inserted in the field.”
Carter’s
remarks, made earlier this month, did not specify what support the
rebels would receive, only that the rebels knew they would receive it.
[U.S. program to train new Syrian force faces logistic, diplomatic headaches]
The
first contingent of U.S.-trained Syrian rebels reentered the country
from a base in Jordan last week. While the Department of Defense would
not comment on the rebels’ whereabouts, a spokeswoman said the fighters
would be integrating with moderate forces already in the country.
“It
is anticipated that new Syrian force personnel will coordinate with
other moderate opposition forces to build trust between organizations
that are countering ISIL,” Navy Cmdr. Elissa Smith, a Defense Department
spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail, using one of several abbreviations by
which the Islamic State is known.
The program to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels, which began in
May, has faced increased scrutiny after Carter revealed earlier this
month that only 60 fighters had been trained. Initial plans called for a
yearly quota of around 3,000-5,000 fighters with an overall goal of
15,000.
Though 7,000 applicants are currently being screened for
the program, according to Carter, the number of trained fighters is
still much smaller than the Pentagon had hoped for.
Moderate
rebels make up only a small element of forces currently fighting in the
bloody Syrian civil war. On Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed
that the leader of the veteran al-Qaeda affiliate, the Khorasan group,
had been killed. The leader, Muhsin al-Fadhli, was targeted in a drone
strike earlier in the month while traveling in a vehicle outside the
town of Sarmada.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/07/23/u-s-trained-syrian-rebels-can-call-in-airstrikes-theyre-just-not-allowed/
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