Obama to Announce Direct Training of Syria Rebels: Covert Training Programs Already Ongoing

May 27, 2014, Antiwar.com

Reports citing senior administration officials say President Obama is planning to announce direct training of Syrian rebels in the coming days, saying it would focus on “moderate” factions and aimed at stemming the power of al-Qaeda’s factions in the rebellion.

The US has already been organizing major training operations in Jordan and Qatar for the rebels, and the CIA has reportedly played a key role in the training.

A new PBS documentary on the training operation in Qatar is also bringing added focus to the policy as it already exists, with trainees saying they were being taught “how to finish off soldiers still alive after an ambush.”

The US has already poured hundreds of millions of dollars into training and arming the “moderate” factions, but they are increasingly irrelevant across Syria, as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and the Islamic Front dominate the north, and Jabhat al-Nusra, another al-Qaeda faction, controls most of the southern front.

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