The U.S. training program for Syrian rebels has been delayed once again after the village of a group of fighters was attacked, the Los Angeles Times reports.
President Barack Obama first announced the $500 million training program last June as a measure to combat the Islamic State terrorist group. But the effort has still not launched amid disputes between the administration and its Arab allies in the region, who want the U.S.-backed rebel force to target the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad:
"It seemed like a good initiative, but nothing has come out of it," Naseer Hariri, an officer for the Free Syrian Army's First Phalanx, a U.S.-backed faction, said by phone from Amman, the Jordanian capital. "We have seen absolutely nothing on the ground." […]
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 members of the first group 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.
Critics say the persistent delays in the program are hampering the fight against the Islamic State as well as hopes of bringing the Syrian civil war to a political settlement:
"This is a glacial vetting process," said Frederic C. Hof, a former special White House adviser for Syria who now is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a 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."
Some of the countries displeased with the pace and scope of the U.S. training program—including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar—have escalated their support for the Army of Conquest, a new rebel coalition that includes the al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra. The group has achieved significant victories against Assad’s forces in recent weeks.