Turkey, US to train Syrian opposition

Ankara, March 25: Turkey and the US will provide train-and-equip programmes for Syrian opposition forces in a Turkish province near the Syrian border, Xinhua reported citing Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News. The two countries will kick off the programmes for Syrian rebels in late April in southern Hatay province, a second military base in Turkish territory, along with the Hirfanli military base in central Atolia. Ankara and Washington signed an agreement in February to train some 2,000 members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in one year, and 5,000 fighters in three years on the Turkish territory.

A committee of Turkish and US officials will reportedly decide which Syrian opposition fighters to be trained. Turkey, once an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is now the fierce opponent of the Syrian government, and has been supporting efforts to topple him since 2011.  (IANS)