Syria training plan called into question
US vetting in building proxy force blamed
U.S. program to train military there still has not begun.
WASHINGTON — Eleven months after President Barack Obama announced plans to arm opposition fighters to confront Islamic State militants in war-torn Syria, the $500 million program to train a proxy force has yet to begin, raising questions about its viability and effectiveness.
The lack of a reliable U.S. partner on the ground has restricted the U.S. ability to gather intelligence and to target airstrikes against Islamic State leaders in Syria. The Sunni extremist group continues to lure recruits, raise money and maintain strongholds despite the U.S.-led bombing effort that began in September.
Adding to the challenge, the four countries where the military training will take place — Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar — sharply disagree with Washington on what the proposed proxy force should do. They want it to focus first on ousting Syrian President Bashar Assad, while the White House wants the fighters to target Islamic State.
The slow rollout and the competing objectives have caused friction between the U.S. and several key allies, and frustration for those in Syria who had hoped Obama’s plan would lead to more immediate U.S. assistance.
Partly as a result, several Gulf powers and Turkey have begun arming the Army of Conquest, an umbrella opposition group that reportedly includes an alQaida affiliate and other Islamist groups as well as “moderate” fighters.
So far this year, U.S. officials have vetted and cleared more than 400 Syrians to receive training and light arms, and a six-week course was expected to start two months ago in Turkey. But the first group members were unable to leave their village after it was attacked, according to a senior U.S. military official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The setbacks in Syria, the birthplace of Islamic State, has raised doubts among many in Congress about whether the administration is on track to achieve its goal of degrading and ultimately defeating the extremists.
Senior Pentagon officials say training a surrogate force was never the linchpin of U.S. strategy given the chaos and growing radicalization of Syria’s four-year civil war. The ferocious conflict has pitted dozens of armed factions against the government in Damascus, and fighters’ loyalties sometimes shift with the front lines.
“No one in the military is under the illusion that training the Syrians will be a game changer,” said the senior U.S. military official. “It’s just a part of our overall plan.”
The White House has said its first priority, before they turn to Syria, is pushing Islamic State militants out of cities and towns in Iraq. The U.S.-led coalition has trained nearly 6,500 Iraqi troops, and another 4,500 are now in courses, according to the Pentagon.
Critics say the delay in building a U.S.-backed Syrian opposition force, which Obama first announced last June, continues to hobble the broader effort. The White House insists it is seeking a political solution in Syria, and officials warn that pouring arms into the war only increases the risk they will end up with Islamic State forces there.
They also say the ebb and flow of the war is difficult to predict. Some “moderate” groups initially picked for U.S. support have been wiped out or eclipsed by more extremist groups.
Obama asked Congress for $500 million to create a Syrian force last June, after Islamic State fighters had surged across the border and had begun seizing major cities in Iraq.
He approved airstrikes in Iraq in August, initially for humanitarian purposes, and later to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces as they fought to retake territory. When he expanded the bombing into Syria in September, finding a U.S. ally on the ground took on a new immediacy.
Congress approved the $500 million in October, and the Pentagon said it intends to train 5,400 rebels a year for the next three years.
But lawmakers from both parties are now skeptical that the schedule is realistic given the complexities of the multi-sided war in Syria, and the internecine politics in the region.
“There’s a real concern on whether this can be successful,” said Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
The vetting process has drawn special criticism. Run from U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., officials are supposed to screen each applicant’s background against U.S. and allies’ law enforcement and intelligence databases.
The goal is to weed out anyone with ties to terrorist groups or to Shiite militias backed by Assad or by Iran.
“This is a glacial vetting process,” said Frederic Hof, a former special White House adviser for Syria who now is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington.
“Everything needs to be sped up in order to be effective,” Hof added. “That might mean having to accept more risk, but if you’re going to do something meaningful, the administration needs to expect to take some chances.”
Pentagon officials say they are going as quickly as possible in a difficult environment. “Rushing this program would be counter productive,” said Sgt. Sheryl Lawry, spokeswoman for U.S. Central Command.