Who Are the Syrian Rebels the U.S. Wants to Arm and Train?

[flamingdem]

* Or the little that they do know about the Syrian rebels the U.S. wants to arm and train.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/who-are-syrian-rebels-u-s-wants-arm-train-n207391

From that network, the Americans hope to train and equip 5,000 rebel Syrian fighters within a year. Here are some people who might be leaders in that fighting force:

— Jamal Maarouf, a construction worker by trade, is the leader of a rebel alliance called the Syria Revolutionaries Front that is powerful in northern Syria. In a speech to fighters a week ago, he announced open war against ISIS and against the Syrian regime.

The alliance has not hidden its relationship to the United States, and has said that its members are trained by the Americans in Turkey — a covert program that has been widely reported.

Of this group, Maarouf has “the most street credit among the non-extremist factions,” said Andrew Tabler, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and an authority on Syria.



Brig. Gen. Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir, the new military chief of the Free Syrian Army, in Jordan in 2013. The Western-backed Free Syrian Army has appointed a new military chief, opposition groups announced Monday as they try to restructure a rebel movement that has fallen into disarray as it faces rampant infighting and declining international support for its fight to topple President Bashar Assad.

[hobbit709]

1. Most likely the ones we'll be fighting a year from now.

Judging from our track record.

[flamingdem]

2. I wonder what "moderate islamist" means

but there is a secular leader involved.

I wonder if they can win, or if a stalemate is what's desired at this point.

[Scootaloo]

3. Same thing "christian democrat" means n/t

[indepat]

4. Our buds are who

Last edited Sun Sep 21, 2014, 08:54 PM - Edit history (1)