U.S.-trained Syrian rebels gave equipment to Nusra: U.S. military

[Little Tich]

Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Syrian rebels trained by the United States gave some of their equipment to the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front in exchange for safe passage, a U.S. military spokesman said on Friday, the latest blow to a troubled U.S. effort to train local partners to fight Islamic State militants.

The rebels surrendered six pick-up trucks and some ammunition, or about one-quarter of their issued equipment, to a suspected Nusra intermediary on Sept. 21-22 in exchange for safe passage, said Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, in a statement.

"If accurate, the report of NSF members providing equipment to al Nusra Front is very concerning and a violation of Syria train and equip program guidelines," Ryder said, using an acronym for the rebels, called the New Syrian Forces.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, was told of the equipment surrender around 1 p.m. on Friday, Ryder said. Earlier on Friday, Ryder had said all weapons and equipment issued to the rebels remained under their control.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-forces-turned-over-coalition-issued-equipment-nusra-224642198.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. How does Nusra always manage to stop these guys and shake them down?

We release them into Syria, they get caught, we release them into Syria, they get caught. Is it betrayal or sabotage, or are they poorly trained, or are we sending them on doomed missions? It's just repeated failure and embarrassment. BTW, the Pentagon denied this earlier in the day. That was so the truth could be hidden in the Fri. afternoon news dump.

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. There must be a more efficient way of resupplying the jihadis. n/t

[JackRiddler]

3. Sure. Have Turkey & Saudi supply them directly.

Which is what's been happening. Also, in the case of ISIS, have them pick up all the weapon abandoned by retreating Iraqi units, as we saw.