US announces launch of training programme for Syrian opposition

The US Department of Defence announced the start of a training programme for Syrian opposition fighters in the context of the “training and arming” agreement signed between Turkey and the US.

A Department of Defence statement also said that the US’s forces and its partners started training the first batch of Syrian opposition fighters as a part of a drive to combat the threat of the Islamic State (ISIS).

In addition to this, the statement noted that the training programme will include a number of nations and will be supervised by the foreign ministries of the countries in the anti-ISIS coalition as well as each country’s intelligence agencies. It also stated that the training programme is a critical and complex part of the anti-ISIS efforts and was designed to develop the individual capabilities of the opposition forces.

According to the Department of Defence’s statement, the training programme will include archery, communications, leadership skills, armed combat law, principles of human rights and other related training programmes.

The statement also suggested that the coalition forces are working on developing the opposition forces’ combative skills and capabilities in order to protect the Syrian people from ISIS’s attacks, to preserve the security in the areas they control, and develop the conditions of the negotiations to resolve the Syrian crisis.

Turkey and the US signed a training and arming agreement on 19 February to train and equip between 1,500 and 2,000 Syrian rebels. The agreement was put into effect in early March.