Syrian Train and Equip Program

Background

As the Syrian Civil War erupted in 2011 the Obama Administration began efforts to support the overthrow of the Assad Government in Damascus. At the direction of U.S. President Barack Obama, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was put in charge of the operations, worth about $1 billion annually, to arm anti-government forces in Syria at the early stages of the Syrian Civil War, which began in 2011. At first, the CIA only supplied the apparently moderate rebels of the Free Syrian Army with non-lethal aid, but quickly began providing training, cash, and intelligence to selected rebel commanders.

While the CIA-run programs to arm and train Syrian opposition factions began 2013, on September 17, 2014 the House of Representatives voted to authorize the executive branch to train-and-equip Syrian rebels against ISIL forces. One of the groups that United States intended to train-and-equip was the Islamist Army of Mujahedeen while the Harakat Hazm group was already being supplied. There were indications that the Army of Mujahedeen was still being vetted for support. The United States was set to send 400 troops and hundreds of support staff to countries neighboring Syria to train 5,000 opposition soldiers a year for the next three years. The countries taking part in the train-and-equip program were to include Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. The Pentagon confirmed that it had selected 1,200 Syrian opposition members to begin training in March 2015, with 3,000 to complete training by the end of 2015. However of that number only about 200 actually began training, the majority of whom left after being required to agree to fight only against ISIL and not the Assad government. As of mid-2015, only a group of 54 such fighters (Division 30) had been deployed, which was quickly routed by al-Nusra.

The successful experience in Kobanî had informed U.S. policy in regards to arming Syrian opposition groups other than the Kurdish YPG, with plans to give other groups technicals equipped with radio and GPS equipment to call in airstrikes. John R. Allen, President Obama's envoy to the international coalition against ISIL, has said "It is clearly part of our plan, that not only we will train them, and we will equip them with the latest weapons systems, but we will also protect them when the time comes," alluding to aiding the opposition with air support and no fly zones. The United Kingdom announced it will send around 75 military instructors to train Syrian opposition forces. The train-and-equip programme started on 9 May. On 25 May, Turkey and the U.S. agreed "in principle" on the necessity to support these forces with air support.

By 2013, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant had become the dominant faction in the Syrian opposition. Washington could no longer offer broad-based support to the opposition because so much material was falling into Islamist hands, and began searching for specific rebel factions to partner with.

The US government earlier attempted to partner with the Hazzm Movement, but they fell to Islamic extremists and their stores of advanced American weapons were looted in late 2014.

Planning and training

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. The Obama Administration hoped to identify reliable non-Islamist Syrian rebels currently in Turkey. The Pentagon identified 7,000 potential candidates for the program. After verifying their identities and passing initial tests, the candidates are trained in tactics and advanced weapons systems by the Department of Defense. The rebels are then outfitted with American equipment, and sent back over the border to Syria. Washington hopes to train an army of 15,000 rebels to fight ISIS.

Turkey allowed about 1,000 US troops involved in the training program to enter Turkey. The United Kingdom announced in March 2015 that it would send 75 military personnel to Turkey as part of the US-led effort.

Deployment

A hundred men completed a 54-day training program in Jordan and returned to Syria in late June 2015.

On 12 July 2015, the first class of 54 fighters of the New Syrian Forces trained in Turkey crossed the border back into Syria. Despite extensive US-air support, within the first 24 hours of their deployment the majority of the recruits were either dead or missing and their leader had been captured by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front. Al-Nusra Front posted photos on social media the next day showing American weapons and equipment that they had captured from the group. By September, the Pentagon acknowledged that there were only "four or five" US-backed rebels left.

Seventy five Syrian rebels trained by the United States and its allies to fight Islamic State have entered northern Syria since Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday, 20 September 2015. Reuters reported that Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory, said the rebels had crossed into Syria from Turkey with 12 vehicles equipped with machine guns. Soon afterwards however, there were reports that 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.

Uncertain future

The elimination of the first wave of US-backed rebels affected recruitment of new candidates. The program has proven very controversial in Congress and faces an uncertain future. Some rebels left the program after being asked to sign an agreement pledging not to attack pro-Assad forces. However, the Washington Post’s Missy Ryan and Greg Jaffe reported on Monday, 21 September 2015, that the Executive Office of the President is working on a plan to provide weapons "to a wider array of rebel groups in Syria and relaxing vetting standards, effectively deepening America’s involvement in the ongoing civil war."

The next year, at the end of September 2016, the US spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve confirmed that the Syrian Democratic Forces, led by the People's Protection Units, is also part of the "vetted forces" in the train and equip program. The president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned this and claimed that the SDF are "endangering our future".

On 31 January 2017, the SDF received a number of armoured personnel carriers produced by ArmorGroup. US military official Col. John Dorrian confirmed that the armoured vehicles were supplied by the US.