Commander says 1000 FSA fighters trained by U.S. in Saudi Arabia

(Zaman Al Wasl) – About 1000 Syrian rebel fighters have followed trainings in Saudi Arabia since the Kingdom agreed last September to host training camps for moderate  rebels as part of United States' broad strategy to combat Islamic State group, senior Free Syrian Army commander told Zaman al-Wasl.

Lieutenant Colonel Khaled al-Hammoud, one of the trainers, says the first batch of FSA fighters is to enter Syria from the Turkish border to carry on their mission in fighting IS militants over a U.S.-Turkish agreement. He declined to specify when the deployment of FSA fighters would be started.

According to Hammoud, the primary plan by FSA is to storm Islamic State’s strongholds north and east Syria, "the battle will be covered U.S.-led coalition's airstrikes as FSA army carrying on the ground attack," he added.

FSA training agreement was outlined by Obama who wanted to expand campaign against the Islamist group, in time Saudi has reflected concern about Islamic State's threat to the region, according to Reuters.

Obama administration wanted the Syrian rebels to play a role in the fight against the stronger Islamic State forces inside Syria.

The commander said clearly that rebels had no choice just to ally with United States which vowed to beef up support for moderate rebels to overthrow Bashar al-Assad.

Al-Hammoud revealed the training is now in a narrow range, saying "we are planning to have training camps in the Syrian north and to increase the number of trainees to 10000 fighters, 5 thousands of equipped and well-trained fighters and the other half to be of reserve soldiers.

The former Syrian Army officer said the newly-trained units were formed of all rebel groups in Syria, assuring that rebel factions, including Ahrar al-Sham movement, can nominate fighters to follow training.

Syria's war started with a pro-democracy movement that grew into an armed uprising and has inflamed regional confrontations. Some 200,000 people have died in the conflict, according to United Nations estimates.

(Reporting by Abdullah Al Ghadawi; Editing by Mohamed Hamdan)