Pentagon finally scraps failing expensive training program for moderate rebels in Syria

After considerable criticism, the Pentagon has announced it is ending its $500 million program to train and equip vetted moderate Syrian rebels to form a New Syrian Force to fight the Islamic State.

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The U.S. is now planning to provide arms and equipment to select vetted groups and leaders in Syria already fighting the Islamic State. Secretary of State Ash Carter said:"I remain convinced that a lasting defeat of ISIL in Syria will depend in part on the success of local, motivated, and capable ground forces.I believe the changes we are instituting today will, over time, increase the combat power of counter-ISIL forces in Syria and ultimately help our campaign achieve a lasting defeat of ISIL."

There were just two groups of trained rebels sent to Syria. The first group of 54 was quickly routed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. In recent testimony to the U.S. Congress CENTCOM commander General Lloyd Austin III testified that less than half a dozen U.S.-trained rebels were left in Syria. The fate of the second group of about 70 fighters was no better. As soon as the group entered Syria they handed their weapons over to the Nusra Front. Originally the plan was to have thousands of the U.S.-trained New Syrian Forces in Syria fighting the Islamic State. The U.S. policy failed to take into account the obvious fact that rebels of whatever stripe have as their first priority defeat of Assad rather than fighting the Islamic State. The only reason rebels fight the Islamic State is that IS attacks them. The U.S. bombing attacks also target Al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front that most rebels consider a key ally in the fight against Assad.

Al Jazeera reporter Rosalind Jordan said reporters were told that the U.S. believes the fight against the Islamic State will last for years: "What is notable is instead of training the moderate Syrian rebels who had wanted to take arms up against President Bashar al-Assad, the US is going to be providing basic military equipment and support to exisitng groups who have been fighting against ISIL for the better part of the year now. Obama administraion officials told reporters on Friday that this change will work but they also did caution that the fight against ISIL is going to take years and it will not be resolved in a matter of weeks or months."The extent of the program will apparently be scaled back with a new focus on providing weaponry to Kurdish and other rebel groups. Now with the Russians providing more equipment and air support for Assad, he may be able to improve his situation. The U.S. arming of the Kurds will not hurt Assad since long ago Assad decided to leave the Kurds alone, provided they did not attack his forces. Recently the Kurds applauded the Russian air strikes in Syria even though rebel groups attacking Assad other than the Islamic State were targets of the raids. The Kurds also asked the Russians to provide them with weapons.

Top leader of Islamic Front group and others killed in suicide attack in Syria

In a pair of suicide bombings in the town of Idlib, Abu Salqeen, the leader of Ahrar al-Sham, and six other members were killed including senior figures. Other top figures were among those killed.

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Ahrar al-Sham is the most powerful group in the umbrella organization the Islamic Front. The latter is composed of Islamists who reject the western demand for a secular state in Syria and intend to create a state based upon Sharia law. The Islamic Front is widely regarded as funded by rich individuals in Saudi Arabia and perhaps even by the state. The members are conservative Islamists, many of the Salafist orientation that is very much like the official Saudi version of Islam. Ahrar al-Sham co-ordinates with other groups in the fight against Assad and also the Islamic State. Some of its members have been linked to Al Qaeda, although the official Al Qaeda group in Syria is the Nusra Front. The relations of Ahrar al-Sham with the Nusra front has varied from cooperation to conflict. Al-Sham is said to be partially funded by wealthy donors in Kuwait.

Even though Ahrar al-Sham is composed of conservative Islamists and the Islamic Front is not part of the overall western-supported military structure in Syria, there have been recent attempts for al Sham to rebrand itself along with the rest of the Islamic Front as "moderate." The move is intended to allow the group to receive aid from the U.S. Given the challenge of the Islamic State and the relative lack of moderates with any significant power in Syria, the U.S. has itself been rethinking who they will consider a moderate. James Clapper, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, recently said:" Moderate these days is increasingly becoming anyone who is not affiliated with ISIL." While the U.S. has not itself yet provided funding for Ahrar al-Sham, it has not complained when the Saudis and Turkey decided to fund radical Islamist groups in Syria. The Saudis and Turks appear to make defeating Assad a priority rather than defeating the Islamic State first, as seems to be the U.S. policy.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, although many suspect the Islamic State is the culprit. Lately, there has been disagreement with the Al Nusra Front as well. The attack comes shortly after a senior al-Sham member published an op-ed article in the Washington Post in which he denied the group espoused al-Qaeda ideology. He claimed the group is composed of moderate Islamists anxious to defeat the Islamic State.

Last September, there was also a devastating suicide attack on al-Sham that killed many of their leaders as well. A video of the attack is appended.

Islamic State moves against other rebels against key city on Turkish border

The Islamic State continued their offensive today in Aleppo province in Syria. Their forces are moving against the strategic city of Azaz just next to a key border crossing into Syria from Turkey.

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Azaz has been occupied by several different rebel groups since 2012, but of late the Islamic Front — no relation to the Islamic State — has controlled the area. The Islamic Front is an umbrella group of Islamist rebels. If the group loses Azaz to the Islamic State it will have lost the last main site they control in northern Syria and all of the border with Turkey would be under control of the Islamic State except for a few Kurdish controlled areas such as that around Kobane. The control of the border would allow the Islamic State to import foreign fighters and supplies through Turkey.The Islamic State has advanced to within 30 miles of Bab al-Salam, one of the main border crossings between Syria and Turkey and is only 7 miles from the main supply route to the south and Aleppo. The crossing had just reopened in May to commercial traffic and humanitarian aid.

The Islamic Front, desperate to avoid defeat, has called on the U.S. to provide air strikes against the Islamic State as they advance. The weekend assault caught Islamic Front rebels by surprise just as happened when the group recently took the city of Palmyra in Syria and the Iraqi city of Ramadi. In spite of more than eight months of air strikes by a US-led coalition the Islamic State is still able to advance into new territory although they have lost some ground.

Rebel commanders worry that control of Azaz by the Islamic State will cut off the main supply line to rebels in the Aleppo area. Rebels were rushing reinforcements north to the area. Leader of the rebel group Thuwar al-Sham, Abu Mohammed said: “Automatically, the Islamic State would gain control of Aleppo city. The situation is dire.” In villages recently seized by the Islamic State, rebels have been beheaded and some family members have been held hostage as well according to a defected former Syrian air force colonel now part of a rebel coalition group. The Assad regime has made no move to stop the offensive. The Islamic State attack has delayed a planned offensive by rebels against the Assad regime in Aleppo and other areas as they are now forced to send reinforcements north to fight the Islamic State.

Suicide attack claims key Syrian rebel leader

Hassan Assoud who led the Ahrar al-Sham brigade was killed along with others at a meeting of members of the large umbrella organization the Islamic Front. The meeting was called to discuss strategy to fight the radical Islamic State.

The Islamic Front is a merger of seven different rebel groups formed on 22 November 2013. It is not part of the western-backed Free Syrian Army(FSA) but cooperates with it in fighting both Assad and ISIS now called the Islamic State. Ahmad Musa a member of the group's political bureau claimed that the Syrian people wanted a revolution "not politics and foreign agendas". Many believe the group is funded by Saudi Arabia.
 Ahrar al-Sham, which Assoud led, is one of the major groups of the Front with 10 to 20 thousand fighters as of July last year. In February of this year another top commander Abu al-Suri was assassinated in a suicide bombing. Other important figures were killed in the attack including two military field commanders and the head of the Iman brigade. The death toll in total was said to be between 20 to 45.
In a December interview with Al Jazeera, Assoud dismissed any idea of participating in the Geneva talks to broker peace that included the western-supported Syrian National Coalition. He said at the time: "We see Geneva as a tool of manipulation - to derail the Syrian revolution away from its goals and objectives ... Whatever outcome the conference may yield, will be binding on the Syrian National Coalition only.For us, we will continue to fight for our revolution until we restore our rights."
 The casualty figures from the attack vary as is often the case: The Edlib News Network said that over 40 people were killed, including four other leaders of Ahrar al-Sham. The Observatory said "tens" people were killed but did not provide a specific number. Differing casualty figures are routine immediately after attacks in Syria. The Observatory is the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in the UK.
Ahrar al-Sham has a very conservative interpretation of Islam along the lines of that prevalent in Saudi Arabia. However there are reports that funding has been drying up of late as some donors have become wary of promoting more radical jihadists for fear that they might return home to carry out jihad there against the government. Ahrar al-Sham blames the Islamic State that has adopted an even more extreme jihadist ideology for the suicide attack. The attack is a serious blow to the rebel opposition and is likely to weaken them further.