American Backed Syrian Rebel Group Has ‘Four or Five’ Syrians Left Fighting Against ISIS
Testifying to the Senate Armed Services Committee today, Gen. Lloyd
Austin, the head of Centcom, admitted that the pro-US Syrian rebel
faction, dubbed the New Syrian Force (NSF) in most official contexts, is virtually gone now, with virtually everybody either killed or having fled.
What was initially envisioned as a force of tens of thousands of
anti-ISIS fighters amounted to only 54 to start with, and Gen. Austin
told Congress today that they are down to “four or five” fighters still
active in the field. Needless to say, it’s not going well.
Austin went on to say that the next two classes of NSF fighters are
still being trained, though that training too is falling behind
schedule. The indications are that these classes aren’t much bigger,
100-120 fighters all told. The pared-back goal of 5,000 fighters is
likely still years off.
The general went on to say that they are “reviewing” the program,
though since the Pentagon has repeatedly talked up the NSF as the
end-all, be-all plan for victory in Syria, and has harshly resisted
efforts to change the process, which they’ve invested tens of millions
of dollars into for tens of fighters.
