WASHINGTON // The US military is planning to send more than 400 soldiers to train Syrian rebels to fight ISIL along with hundreds of US support personnel, a Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday.
The training mission is expected to begin in the spring at sites outside Syria, Colonel Steve Warren said. Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have offered to host the training.
The Syrian state news agency SANA said the plan showed Washington was “continuing to support terrorism in Syria”. Syria’s government describes all of its armed opponents as terrorists.
The training programme is a part of US president Barack Obama’s plan to field local forces in Syria to halt and eventually roll back ISIL fighters, while pounding them with airstrikes.
But the insurgency in Syria is now dominated by extremists including both ISIL and Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra Front, complicating US measures to find a suitable ally on the ground.
Col Warren did not offer additional details on the troop figures.
The Pentagon has estimated that it can train more than 5,000 recruits in the first year under a $500 million programme, and that up to 15,000 will be needed to retake areas of eastern Syria controlled by Islamic State.
Critics in Congress have said the Pentagon programme will not aid Syrian opposition forces fast enough, however, and question whether it is too small to influence the course of Syria’s civil war, which pits president Bashar Al Assad’s government against an array of opponents.
Across the border in Iraq, Mr Obama has authorised more than 3,000 US troops to advise and train Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
The disclosure of the planned troop deployments for the Syria training mission followed a meeting between senior US officials and Syrian opposition and civil society leaders in Istanbul.
“These introductory meetings were an important step as we prepare to launch the train-and-equip programme later this spring with our international partners,” Pentagon spokeswoman Commander Elissa Smith said.
* Reuters
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What should do investors do now?
What does the S&P 500's new all-time high mean for the average investor?
Should I be euphoric?
No. It's fine to be pleased about hearty returns on your investments. But it's not a good idea to tie your emotions closely to the ups and downs of the stock market. You'll get tired fast. This market moment comes on the heels of last year's nosedive. And it's not the first or last time the stock market will make a dramatic move.
So what happened?
It's more about what happened last year. Many of the concerns that triggered that plunge towards the end of last have largely been quelled. The US and China are slowly moving toward a trade agreement. The Federal Reserve has indicated it likely will not raise rates at all in 2019 after seven recent increases. And those changes, along with some strong earnings reports and broader healthy economic indicators, have fueled some optimism in stock markets.
"The panic in the fourth quarter was based mostly on fears," says Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist for Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company. "The fundamentals have mostly held up, while the fears have gone away and the fears were based mostly on emotion."
Should I buy? Should I sell?
Maybe. It depends on what your long-term investment plan is. The best advice is usually the same no matter the day — determine your financial goals, make a plan to reach them and stick to it.
"I would encourage (investors) not to overreact to highs, just as I would encourage them not to overreact to the lows of December," Mr Schutte says.
All the same, there are some situations in which you should consider taking action. If you think you can't live through another low like last year, the time to get out is now. If the balance of assets in your portfolio is out of whack thanks to the rise of the stock market, make adjustments. And if you need your money in the next five to 10 years, it shouldn't be in stocks anyhow. But for most people, it's also a good time to just leave things be.
Resist the urge to abandon the diversification of your portfolio, Mr Schutte cautions. It may be tempting to shed other investments that aren't performing as well, such as some international stocks, but diversification is designed to help steady your performance over time.
Will the rally last?
No one knows for sure. But David Bailin, chief investment officer at Citi Private Bank, expects the US market could move up 5 per cent to 7 per cent more over the next nine to 12 months, provided the Fed doesn't raise rates and earnings growth exceeds current expectations. We are in a late cycle market, a period when US equities have historically done very well, but volatility also rises, he says.
"This phase can last six months to several years, but it's important clients remain invested and not try to prematurely position for a contraction of the market," Mr Bailin says. "Doing so would risk missing out on important portfolio returns."
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