Only four or five US-trained Syrian rebels are still fighting in Syria, a top US general told Congress, a stark admission of setbacks to a fledgling military programme critics have already pronounced a failure.
The US military began training in May for up to 5,400 fighters a year, in what was seen as a test of President Barack Obama’s strategy of having local partners combat Islamic State militants and keep US troops off the front lines.
But the programme was troubled from the start, with some of the first class of less than 60 fighters coming under attack from al Qaeda’s Syria wing, Nusra Front, in their battlefield debut. Some were captured and killed while others scattered.
US officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, acknowledged a review is underway that could result in scaling back and re-envisioning the programme.
US General Lloyd Austin, the head of the US military’s Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee at the current, slower-than-expected pace, initial training targets were unrealistic.
Asked how many fighters were still in Syria, Austin said: “It’s a small number. The ones that are in the fight we’re talking four or five.”
Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Christine Wormuth told the committee only 100 to 120 Syrian fighters were in training.
Wormuth said the Pentagon was considering options that include scaling back the programme’s goals to insert small numbers of US-trained rebels with larger units in northern Syria. That contrasts with previous goals of creating individual units.
“We are looking at that option as well as others,” Wormuth told the committee.
US officials told Reuters the option cited might significantly reduce the size of the programme, creating an “enabling” force that could, for example, help call in US-led coalition airstrikes.
Wormuth said the current crop of US-trained fighters could help enable other Western-aligned groups in Syria, but she also acknowledged disappointment, saying: “The programme is much smaller than we’d hope. Yes, we’re not bragging.”
At the White House, spokesman Josh Earnest said the fact that so few US-trained fighters were deployed “certainly raises legitimate questions about what kinds of changes need to be made to this programme.”
Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, said: “We have to acknowledge this is a total failure. It’s just a failure.”
Obama’s critics have seized on the programme as evidence of a deeply troubled strategy in Syria, where a 4-1/2-year civil war has killed about 250,000 people and caused nearly half of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million to flee, with many thousands attempting to reach Europe.
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican Senator John McCain, roundly condemned Obama’s campaign against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.
“One year into this campaign, it seems impossible to assert Islamic State is losing and we are winning. And if you’re not winning in this kind of warfare, you are losing,” McCain said.