US-Trained Syrian Rebels to Be Ready by March 2016
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MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The top U.S. envoy for the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria said on Wednesday that training for 5,000 Syrian rebel fighters would begin in 2015 and take about one year.
Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Special Envoy Brett McGurk said he hoped the training would begin in earnest in March 2015. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, expressed skepticism, noting that ISIS will still be operating in that time frame.
Poe asked McGurk to clarify whether the first 5,000 Syrian rebels would be trained in the fight against ISIS by March 2015, or whether training would begin then. When McGurk explained that that was the start date and training would take one year, Poe responded, saying that, “March of 2016. Then we have a plan. Then we have fighters. Then we send them to Syria. There’s no telling what ISIS can do in that year and however many months it is.”
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