LONDON (Dispatches) – UK Minister of Defense Michael Fallon says British special forces will soon resume training "moderate” militants in Syria to bolster the fight against the Daesh terrorist group.
Fallon made the announcement on Tuesday, before meeting with defense ministers from a U.S.-led coalition which has been striking purported Daesh positions in Iraq and Syria since 2014.
"Daesh are on the back foot. The RAF [Royal Air Force] is already playing a leading role in the air, hitting them hard in Iraq and Syria,” the top military official said.
"Now we’re stepping up our support to moderate opposition forces in Syria, through training them in the skills they need to defeat Daesh,” he added.
Under the new program, Fallon said the Defense Ministry would send 20 more of its personnel to the Middle East "to provide vetted members of the moderate Syrian opposition with the skills they need.”
Britain’s decision came in response to a request by the U.S., according to The Independent. British and American military forces had carried out similar training programs for terrorists in Jordan.
The new effort would be an extension of an expensive program by the Pentagon that was supposed to "train and equip” up to 5,000 terrorists every year. However, it was discontinued in November last year, after failing to attract enough volunteers.
The $500 million program’s few trainees were no good as most of them either deserted or surrendered their arms to other terror groups.
This time, however, Fallon said "strict vetting procedures” were awaiting the trainees in order to prevent similar problems.
"Trainees will be security and medically screened prior to the start of the training and will be assessed during and monitored after the training,” he noted.
The UK’s Special Air Service (SAS) forces have reportedly played a role in selecting the new recruitment.
The efforts to promote terrorism in Syria come at a time when the West, mainly the U.S. and the UK, have come under fire for openly seeking to remove President Bashar al-Assad from power.
Russia, which has been pounding Daesh across Syria upon a request from Damascus, says the Western-trained terrorists’ only use is to oust Assad.
Syria has been grappling with foreign-backed terrorism since 2011. The conflict has killed more than 400,000 Syrians, according to UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.
Turkey is one of main opponents of the Syrian government. Chairman of Syria's Democratic Union Party Salih Muslim Muhammad said that the Ankara government is in no way willing to see Daesh’s collapse in Iraq and Syria because it will lose its arm in the region.
"If Daesh is defeated Turkey will lose its instrument in the region," Muslim Muhammad said, adding that the Ankara government is trying to increase its regional dominance through supporting the Daesh terrorist group.
He blasted the international community for keeping mum about the Turkish military incursions in the region, and said, "We call on Washington to support the Damascus government in areas where it is fighting the terrorists."
The General Command of the Syrian Armed Forces in a statement issued on Saturday lashed out at Turkey for its continued aggression on Syrian soil, and described Ankara as a staunch supporter of terrorists.
"The government of (President) Recep Tayyip Erdogan has played a filthy role since the start of the aggression against Syria by sheltering, training, arming and sponsoring the terrorist groups financially and opening its borders to facilitate crossing of thousands of mercenary terrorists into the Syrian territories," the statement said.