WP: US, Jordan Stepping Training of Syria Rebels

Local Editor

Washington Post US daily reported Wednesday that the United States and Jordan have stepped up training of Syrian opposition forces that may be used to establish a buffer zone along Syria's southern border.

According to US and Jordanian officials, training that began last year has been expanded and accelerated.
Jordanian security officials said a previous timetable to complete training of about 3,000 Free Syrian Army officers by the end of June has been moved up to the end of this month.

It further mentioned that creation of a buffer zone would aim to convert areas now in rebel hands into permanent havens for thousands of army defectors.
Officials from the United States and Jordan cautioned that implementation of the zones has not been set in motion and listed several stumbling blocks, including the ongoing refusal of the United States and other international backers to provide air cover.
But the officials cited growing concern that the so-called rebel forces would be overtaken by extremist fighters who have become dominant in northern areas under rebel control.

"The last thing anyone wants to see is al-Qaeda gaining a foothold in southern Syria next to "Israel". That is a doomsday scenario," said a US diplomat in Jordan who was not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.
The Obama administration, which sent a force of about 150 US military personnel to Jordan last year, has repeatedly refused to comment on reports that the force is training Syrian fighters.

Among the options under discussion, Free Syrian Army forces would attempt to establish a rebel zone in May in the sparsely populated southeastern desert where Syria borders Jordan and Iraq, an area that has seen little fighting throughout the conflict.

Rebel officials who say they have taken part in the US-Jordanian training at a Jordanian military base say they are being prepared to maintain the zones using surface-to-air missiles and heavy artillery.
"The "Free Syrian Army" will be expected and ready to control and administer Syria's liberated zones," said Mohammad al Damashqi, an FSA officer. "We have been told not to count on international forces or even a no-fly zone."

Obama administration officials have expressed repeated concern that some of about 20,000 of the weapons, called MANPADS, have made their way from the arsenals of former Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi to Syria.

The administration has acknowledged that Persian Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are supplying weapons to the Syrian rebels.
"Whether we fight under the banner of Jabhat al-Nusra or the Free Syrian Army, we are all defending our families in the name of God," said Abu Momen, who crossed the border last week into Jordan. The 22-year-old said he was a fighter with the Jabhat al-Nusra group.

"No buffer zone can stop our "jihad" in Syria," Abu Momen said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org