ISTANBUL // Turkey and the United States have started training moderate Syrian rebels on Turkish territory to prepare them to fight ISIL militants, the Turkish foreign minister said on Tuesday.
The US-led programme to equip and train Syrian rebels on Turkish territory has started “with small groups” after months of delays, Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the official Anatolia news agency.
“We can say that the train-and-equip (mission) has started with small groups. All infrastructure has been completed and the necessary equipment has been supplied,” he said.
“Both the Turkish and the American personnel who will carry out the mission have been dispatched,” he said, adding that the rebels were being selected jointly by Turkey and the US.
On Monday, Mr Cavusoglu told the pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper that Turkey and the US had also agreed to provide some rebels preparing to fight ISIL with “air protection”.
Earlier this month the US started training Syrian rebels in Jordan as part of a programme that would extend to sites in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Ankara and Washington inked a deal in February to train and equip up to 15,000 moderate rebels on Turkish soil. But the plan has been marked by disagreement between Washington and its allies about the objective of the training.
Turkey and other regional governments want to see the rebels confront the Syrian regime, while Washington has said the first priority must be combating the ISIL militant who hold vast swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has always insisted that the ousting of president Bashar Al Assad is key to solving the Syrian crisis.
Meanwhile, ISIL militants in Syria were trying to retake positions they lost in previous fighting in the Yarmouk refugee camp in southern Damascus, a Palestinian official said on Tuesday.
“There is intermittent fighting between Palestinian factions and IS and Al Nusra Front which are trying to retake positions in the centre of Yarmouk,” Khaled Abdel Majid, head of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front which is close to Syria’s regime, said.
The Syrian air force hit an ISIL-controlled airbase in Raqqa province on Tuesday, killing more than 140 militants, state media said, striking the militant group in its Syrian stronghold a week after it seized the historic city of Palmyra from the government.
The city of Raqqa is seen as the de facto capital of the “caliphate” ISIL has declared in Syria and Iraq.
The Syrian antiquities chief said that Palmyra’s ruins were so far undamaged. “The historic city is fine. There is no damage so far,” said Maamoun Abdulkarim, citing contacts with people on the ground.
However, he said was still afraid the militants would blow up ruins including tombs and the Temple of Bel, which could be viewed as idolatrous in its puritanical vision of Islam.
A short video posted by an account supportive of ISIL on YouTube on Tuesday claimed to show Palmyra after the extremists took control.
The footage, mostly filmed without sound and people, showed the Palmyra’s ancient citadel, columns, colosseum, buildings and walls. One image showed black smoke rising behind ancient ruins but it did not appear that any of the historical sites had been obviously damaged by the week of fighting.
A Syrian army source said ISIL was trying to move combatants from its bastions in Raqqa and Deir Ezzour in eastern Syria to Palmyra.
He said ISIL would “certainly try” to make further gains after Palmyra but added: “We are not at all worried. It will not be able to advance towards the west.”
The US has ruled out the idea of partnering with the Al Assad regime in the fight against ISIL.
When militants from ISIL and Al Nusra entered Yarmouk on April 1, they took 60 per cent of the camp before pulling back into around 40 per cent.
They currently have a presence in the south near the Damascus district of Al Hajar Al Aswad.
Mr Abdel Majid said Palestinian groups control 40 per cent of the camp, in its north, and that some 20 per cent makes up the front line.
He said Syrian regime aircraft have bombarded Al Hajar Al Aswad, which is militant-held.
A security source in Damascus said only that in Yarmouk the fighting “stops and then starts again”.
Chris Gunness, the spokesman for UNRWA, the United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians, expressed alarm at the reports of fighting.
“UNRWA calls for an end to all actions and hostilities that endanger the security and lives of Palestinian and Syrian civilians in Yarmouk, who endure — and continue to suffer — extreme humanitarian conditions,” he said.
Before the Syria conflict erupted in 2011, Yarmuk was home to 160,000 people, both Palestinian and Syrian.
UNRWA says that just 18,000 still live there.
“There must be active compliance with the obligation to respect and protect civilians in Yarmuk, including by allowing unhindered humanitarian access,” Mr Gunness said.
* Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Associated Press
