Pentagon abandoning plan to build Syrian force

LONDON The Obama administration backed away Friday from a failed effort to stand up a rebel force in Syria, as the Pentagon announced plans to instead aid existing rebel units that officials believe have better odds of weakening the Islamic State.

The decision to significantly scale back the Pentagon’s flagship effort against the militant group in Syria is a recognition of its repeated failures. After a long-delayed launch this spring, the effort quickly became mired in problems, including attacks by rival rebel forces and a decision by one U.S.-trained unit to hand over equipment to the local al-Qaida affiliate.

The overhaul of U.S. strategy comes as the Obama administration scrambles to adjust to Moscow ’s entry into the already crowded Syrian battle space. Russian planes and forces are now backing an offensive by troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad against opposition units, complicating the United States’ own air operations over Syria.

The Pentagon will now provide equipment and weapons to vetted Syrian units “so that over time they can make a concerted push into territory still controlled by ISIL,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said. ISIL is another name for the Islamic State, which now controls a wide swath of Syria and Iraq.

“We will monitor the progress these groups make and provide them with air support as they take the fight to ISIL,” Cook said in a statement to reporters travelling with Defense Secretary Ashton Carter in Britain.

U.S. officials are hoping the move will help friendly Arab forces replicate the success that Syrian Kurdish fighters have had against the Islamic State in northern Syria, and eventually isolate the group in Raqqa, its de facto Syrian capital.

U.S. officials are also hoping the new effort will help allied forces secure parts of Syria’s border with Turkey and choke off the Islamic State’s supplies of fighters and weapons from the north.

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon, said the troubled Syria training program was not being abandoned or ended completely.

“It’s being refocused to enhance its effectiveness,” the official said. “It’s being refocused in a new direction.”