US Training Syrian Rebels for Almost a Year

Despite the appearance that last week’s decision by the Obama administration to aid the Syrian rebels was a totally new development, CBS news has reported that the CIA has been training groups of anti-Assad fighters at secret bases in Jordan and Turkey since last November. The training consisted of lessons in the use of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons provided by Arab states. The Jordanian prime minister has denied that any training is taking place in the kingdom, but at the government’s request, the United States has stationed almost 1,000-combat-ready troops inside Jordan to help alleviate Amman’s fear that the conflict will escalate within its borders, some of whom are experts sent teach Jordan’s own forces procedures for defending against chemical attacks from Syria. With the newfound willingness of Washington to arm the opposition troops, the rebels are hoping for arms that will neutralize the Assad regime’s total domination of the skies above Syria. On Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry met in Doha with representatives of nations supporting the ouster of Bashar Al-Assad. Discussions centered on determining what weaponry in what quantities will be made available to the rebel forces and on providing humanitarian to the war-torn nation.  Estimates of the death toll since March 2011 now exceed 100,000 with millions others displaced.