A major overhaul of the Obama administration’s program to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels is expected to be announced in the coming days, according to several administration officials.
The move comes after the program has fallen far short of its goals. A top U.S. general told the Senate on Wednesday that of the thousands the Pentagon was supposed to train in the first year, only four or five are in place on the battlefield.
One leading option to dramatically reshape the train-and-equip program would be to place several hundred trained rebels with other groups of Syrian fighters to fight ISIS.
The trained rebels might not fight ISIS directly, as the program originally intended, but instead would help by providing communications, intelligence and targeting information, officials said, though they would not call in airstrikes on their own. Standard procedure continues to be that coalition forces verify all information before airstrikes are conducted.
The administration is looking at potentially placing the trained rebels with groups of Syrian Arabs now living in the areas between Raqqa and the Turkish border, as well as alongside some Kurds in the area. Officials said that there may be a loose coalition of hundreds of Syrian Arabs willing to join forces.
No final decision has been made, and other options remain under consideration. But the overhaul underscores the conclusion inside the administration that the program as it currently exists “is a big mess” and must be changed, one official told CNN.
A review of the effort has been underway since the initial group of some 54 rebels put into northern Syria this summer came under attack and are no longer a functioning fighting force. That attack demonstrated that units have to be larger so the forces can protect themselves, officials said.
The fate of the original effort to train and equip more than 5,000 moderate rebels in the first year was the subject of a fiery hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee when the top U.S. general in charge of fighting ISIS acknowledged the current status of the initial 54 trained by the United States.
“The ones that are in the fight is, we’re talking, four or five,” said Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command.
After Austin noted that the small number of fighters in place under the train-and-equip program, Nebraska Republican Sen. Deb Fischer asked him, “Is it still the goal to have about 12,000 of them there?”
Austin acknowledged that “at the pace we’re going, we won’t reach the goal that we had initially established for ourselves.”
He also said, “It is in our best interest to make sure that we have an element that can protect itself and also it can go in and combine efforts with other elements that are on the ground.”
He added, “I think it’s important to remember that this element is designed to be a compliment to all the other things that we’re doing. So we’re going to use and we are using every tool that we have available to us in our inventory.”
Austin’s comments are a shift from the original premise that the trained forces would be sent back into Syria in part to defend their home areas from ISIS.
There are two other classes in training, but one of the ongoing problems preventing more from being trained is the strict security screening criteria for bringing fighters into the program.
At another point in the hearing, Austin also acknowledged that a Defense Department inspector general has launched an “investigation looking into allegations concerning the processing of intelligence information by CENTCOM’s Intelligence Director.”
The investigation centers on allegations that intelligence analysis of the U.S. fight against ISIS was altered by senior military officials to present a rosier picture of American progress against the terror group.
But Austin said, “Because the allegations are currently under investigation, it would be premature and inappropriate for me to discuss this matter.”
The investigation into alleged altered intelligence was first reported by The New York Times, which said intelligence analysts have handed over documents to investigators.
Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill told Austin she doesn’t want the potential whistleblowers to be retaliated against in any way.
Austin also addressed the recent build-up of Russian troops in Syria, using another name for ISIS: “As you know they have been there all along but they are increasing their footprint. What they stated is that they want the focus on helping to counter ISIL as I understand it.”
He continued, “That’s left to be seen and as you know Russia is not very transparent and so we really don’t know what their — their true intentions are.”
He also said Russia’s actions could, “increase the friction in that battle.”
Austin also told the committee that U.S. special operations forces “began to engage with elements like the YPG,” raising suspicions the U.S. had deployed troops on the ground.
Central Command later sent out a message to the media clarifying that “there are no U.S. military forces on the ground in Syria” and said “Gen. Austin was referring to the coordinating relationship that U.S. Special Operations Forces share with Syrian anti-ISIL forces.”
In his opening remarks, Austin told the committee “progress is being made” against ISIS.
Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, quickly pounced, saying, “I have been a member of this committee for 30 years and I have never heard testimony like this. Never.”
McCain pointed out that Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the battle a “stalemate.”
“I have never seen a hearing that is as divorced from the reality of every outside expert,” McCain charged.