THE PENTAGON—The United States military said Tuesday that it has not trained Syrian Kurdish forces as part of its training program for anti-Assad rebel groups.
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said that the US program is confined to training “moderate Syrian opposition forces outside of Syria,”
Ciwan Ibrahim, head of the security of the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) told Reuters last week that some western countries had trained Kurdish forces on counter terrorism techniques, without naming any countries.
“Some Western states provided support and teams to provide training in Rojava,” Reuters quoted Ibrahim as saying.
Asked if the Pentagon is willing to include the Kurdish forces in its training program, Cook said, “We are going to work on range of groups on the ground and we will continue to do so going forward. We are looking for help and support from range of forces that are bringing the fight against ISIS.”
Washington has hailed the YPG as a reliable partner in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) and the Pentagon has conducted hundreds airstrikes in support of the YPG in Syria.
The Pentagon said it is reviewing its strategy in Syria after its $500 million ‘equip and train program’ fell apart in July when the radical al-Nusra Front captured 50 US-trained Syrian rebel fighters.
