US to Send 400 Trainers, Hundreds Support Staff to Aid Syrian Opposition
10:22 16.01.2015(updated 12:45 16.01.2015)
US defense officials have confirmed they are going to send about 400 trainers and hundreds of supporting military personnel to aid Syria's opposition; Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar have agreed to host the training.
MOSCOW, January 16 (Sputnik) – US is going to send 400 military personnel to train Syrian opposition, according to the military news website Defense One.
The trainers will be accompanied by hundreds of supporting military staff, "so-called enabling forces who will deploy alongside the trainers to provide security and other support at the training sites", the website says.
The training is expected to begin as early as March.
Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have agreed to provide the training grounds, the website ArmyTimes quotes Commander Elissa Smith, a Defense Department spokeswoman as confirming.
Smith did not have information on which particular services the trainers would deliver, but said the number of trainers could fluctuate based on course load, course requirements and other variables.
At least four training sites in those countries are being identified, says Defense One, and the 400 US trainers and their accompanying support forces are going to be split evenly across the sites.
The training cycle is expected to last six to eight weeks.
America's coalition partners are also expected to contribute forces for the effort.
The effort is reportedly aimed to defeat the Islamic State militants who seized large swaths of Syria and Iraq, according to Associated Press. However it remains unclear what particular opposition group in Syria is going to be aided.
The disclosure of the planned troop deployments for the Syria training mission came just days after senior US officials met Syrian opposition and civil society leaders in Istanbul to discuss the program, Reuters reports on Friday.
US Major General Michael Nagata, Combined Joint Interagency Task Force – Syria Director, and US Special Envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein led the meeting on the US side.
"These introductory meetings were an important step as we prepare to launch the train-and-equip program later this spring with our international partners,' the agency quotes Pentagon spokeswoman Commander Elissa Smith as saying.
© Sputnik
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