The big flip: U.S.-backed fighters switch to ISIS

WASHINGTON – Before it even begins, the U.S. training and equipping program of Syrian opposition forces to fight the Sunni army ISIS appears to have become more difficult with the decision by a U.S.-backed Syrian rebel group to join an Islamist coalition closely associated with ISIS and the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra Front.

 

The Hazzm Movement, associated with the Free Syrian Army, is a secular Syrian insurgent group backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. It was one of the last of the non-jihadist opposition groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in northern Syria.

Its leadership decided to join the Islamist coalition of the Levant Front fighting around the key Syrian city of Aleppo, which at one time was the business center of the country but today is a virtual rubble surrounded by Nusra and ISIS fighters.

The turn of events comes even though Hazzm was viewed by one former Defense Department intelligence officer as a "model candidate for greater U.S. and allied support, including lethal military assistance."

The Hazzm Movement decided to switch sides after months of battling Nusra fighters and join the Levant Front, which was formed in late December. It reportedly is on good terms with Nusra.

The development further complicates the process of selecting fighters for training. Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby told WND in January some 5,000 members of the Free Syrian Army would receive training in Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia – all Sunni countries – to battle the Sunni group ISIS.

At the time, Kirby said the training could begin in spring, but he noted the process of identifying and then undertaking training by U.S. Special Forces of "moderate" Syrian rebels to fight ISIS was still being worked out.

"I think if we continue to make the progress that we're making now, that we believe that we could start conducting some training of moderate opposition by early spring," Kirby said.

"What I can tell you is that we continue to coordinate and plan joint efforts for training and equipping for moderate Syrian opposition forces" even though "no training has started yet," he said.

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