Pentagon disputes Turkey’s stance on Syrian forces
Turkish foreign minister reaffirms ISIS is primary target of training
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has disputed a claim recently made by the Turkish foreign minister that there is an agreement “in principle” that the United States will provide air cover to Syrian rebels who fight against military forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
At a May 25 news conference, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said an agreement had been reached between the U.S. and Turkey.
Such a move would be a departure from stated U.S. policy, which has been to oppose creation of safe zones for Syrian rebels, meaning greater U.S. involvement in the Syrian conflict.
“They have to be supported via air,” Cavusoglu said. “If you do not protect them or provide air support, what is the point? There is a principle agreement on providing air support. How it is going to be provided is in the responsibility of the army.”
Cavusoglu’s comments come months after the U.S. and Turkey had agreed to train and equip selective Syrian opposition fighters at a military base in Turkey, as well as in Qatar, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
The plan calls for training some 15,000 such fighters over a three-year period, but the program has been delayed due to a filtering process to determine what fighters would be qualified and would follow the aim of the program to fight ISIS fighters, not Assad’s troops.
One Turkish diplomat said that the Assad forces and ISIS fighters can be fought at the same time if there is sufficient support for Syrian rebel forces, many of whom previously have ultimately sided with jihadist fighters.
“We need not specify in bold letters which enemy is the worst enemy,” the Turkish diplomat said. “The rebel forces can be trained, equipped and supported enough to fight at more than one front.”
However, Pentagon spokesman U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren told G2 that there has been “no change” in the U.S. priority to train Syrian opposition forces for the purposes of attacking jihadist fighters of the Islamic State.
Warren said that he cannot confirm any such agreement referred to by Cavusoglu.
Last February when the U.S. and Turkey initially agreed to undertake training, there was controversy, as there is now, over which enemy the trained Syrian opposition forces would fight.
At the time of the signing of the agreement, then-Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby made clear that fighting ISIS fighters was the program’s only objective.
“Everything that we’ve done inside Syria has been aimed at that group and that group only,” Kirby said. “The fight is against ISIS and ISIS only as far as the coalition is concerned.”
The fight to target ISIS was underscored in the congressional authorization, which made clear what the intent of the train-and-equip program is to accomplish.
This isn’t the first time that Cavusoglu has attempted to expand the program’s intent to include Assad’s forces along with ISIS fighters.
The effort is in keeping with the foreign policy objective of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, to change the Syrian regime.
“They have been highly critical of the U.S.-led coalition for prioritizing the fight against ISIS instead of fighting the Assad regime,” said Middle East expert Semih Idiz.
“These developments go against the grain as far as Ankara’s efforts at trying to keep the attention on the Assad regime are concerned,” Idiz said. “Supporters of Erdogan and Davutoglu’s Syrian policy are also unhappy that the program to train and equip members of the Syrian opposition does not have Assad in its crosshairs.”
There is concern, however, on just how effective the train-and-equip program will be.
For one thing, only 5,000 Syrian opposition fighters will be trained in the first year, if that many can be located and the U.S. can be assured that they will target ISIS, not Assad’s forces.
The train-and-equip program, for which Congress appropriated $500 million, is to last three years, with the hope of generating the 15,000 prospective Syrian opposition fighters.
However, critics don’t believe that training 15,000 fighters after three years will be nearly enough to overcome the number of fighters ISIS recruits on a monthly basis.
“Whatever its merits or demerits,” Idiz said, “signing the agreement to train and equip moderate members of the Syrian opposition, and then claiming this also targets the Syrian regime – when that is not the intention of the U.S.-led coalition – only reinforces the impression that the (Turkish) government’s Syrian policies, not to mention policies on other regional issues, are in a daze.”
In an interview with Foreign Affairs magazine last January, Assad said that “any troops that don’t work with the Syrian army are illegal and should be fought.”
According to observers, Assad’s comments were construed to indicate that he could attack U.S. and allied-trained forces. It may be for that reason that air support of Syrian opposition forces may be used to guard against this prospect.
WND