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Reuters
ASPEN, Colo
A US decision to halt a CIA program equipping and training certain rebel groups fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was not done as a concession to Assad ally Russia, a top US general said on Friday.
Earlier this week a US official said the decision was part of an effort by the Trump administration to improve relations with Russia, which along with Iranian-supported groups has largely succeeded in preserving Assad's government in the six-year-long civil war.
"It was, I think, based on an assessment on the nature of the program, what we're trying to accomplish, the viability of it going forward,"US Army General Raymond Thomas, head of the Special Operations Command, told the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
The decision was"absolutely not a sop to the Russians,"Thomas said. Thomas, offering the first on-the-record commentary on the matter by a US official, described it as a"tough, tough decision."He noted some critics thought the rebels had no chance of removing Assad from power. The CIA program began in 2013 as part of efforts by the administration of then-President Barack Obama to oust Assad, but produced little success.
National Security Adviser HR McMaster and CIA Director Mike Pompeo ended the program after consulting with lower ranking officials and before Trump's July 7 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit in Germany, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
