Comment by the Ministry on sending another group of US-trained “moderate” armed opposition rebels to Syria

Some Western media outlets have reported that on the night of September 19-20, a group of 75 “moderate” armed opposition rebels, trained by US instructors and armed with light weapons to fight against the Islamic State, crossed the Turkish-Syrian border.

They entered Syria in an armoured convoy under air cover.  The “recruits” are supposed to replenish the ranks of the little-known Division 30 and Suqour al-Jabal brigades.

These reports come amid the growing criticism in the United States of the $500 million programme to train and equip Syrian opposition fighters to combat ISIL radicals. The previous group of 54 fighters, which was sent to Syria in July, was instantly routed by Jabhat al-Nusra militants, who saw the US-trained antiterror fighters as “conduits of US interests.” Incidentally, former CIA director David Petraeus previously suggested that al-Nusra members were all but allies in the fight against the ISIL. Evidently, he is not aware of the real attitudes of the jihad “old guard” as represented by al-Nusra, which is closely linked to al-Qaeda.

Experts from the influential International Crisis Group see the training of “non-radical” fighters as an element of courting public opinion ratherthan a part of real politics in a situation where Washington does not have a clear-cut course on Syria.

Once again, we call our partners to focus on genuinely constructive efforts to form a broad front to effectively counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on the generally recognised basis of international law and with the UN playing a key role.

September 23, 2015