Only handful of U.S.-trained Syrian rebels still fighting: general

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By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Only four or five U.S.-trained Syrian rebels were still fighting in Syria, a top general told Congress on Wednesday, a stark admission of setbacks to a fledgling military program that critics have already pronounced a failure. The U.S. military began training in May for up to 5,400 fighters a year, in what was seen as a test of President Barack Obama's strategy of having local partners combat Islamist militants and keep U.S. troops off the front lines. U.S. General Lloyd Austin, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that at the current, slower-than-expected pace, the initial training targets would be unreachable.




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