US: Only 60 Syrians Being Trained to Fight ’ISIL’

Local Editor

Only about 60 Syrian militants are being trained by the United States to take on "ISIL", War Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday, admitting it was far below the number hoped for.

The disclosure is likely to add to criticism of the Obama administration's military strategy, with US Senator John McCain saying that the United States was "losing" the fight against the extremists, who have overrun large areas of Syria and Iraq.

Carter said the US was training about 60 fighters as of last week.

"This number is much smaller than we had hoped for at this point," he added, pointing to difficulties in vetting suitable candidates.

"We know this program is essential. We need a partner on the ground in Syria to assure "ISIL's" lasting defeat."
McCain criticized what he called "not a very impressive number."

In January, the Pentagon said about 5,400 Syrian militants would be trained and armed in the first year of the program and US lawmakers have allocated about $500 million to the effort.

"There is no compelling reason to believe that anything we are currently doing will be sufficient to achieve the president's long-stated goal of degrading and ultimately destroying ISIL -- either in the short-term or the long-term," McCain said at the Senate Armed Services Committee, which he chairs.

"Our means and our current level of effort are not aligned with our ends. That suggests we are not winning, and when you are not winning in war, you are losing."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team