Iran- NO confirmation of US LIE regarding Russian missile crash in IranNotice a named individuals refused to confirm the claims of an "unnamed US official?
Tehran: Iran on Friday declined to confirm a claim by a US official that Russian missiles targeting rebels in Syria crashed in its territory this week."We don't confirm" this information, foreign ministry spokeswoman Afkham Marzieh said when asked about the claim.The US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, had said the missiles crashed in Iran on Wednesday, but did not provide details about where they might have come down or whether they caused any damage.Russia's defence ministry has flatly denied the claim."Any professional knows that during these operations we always fix the target before and after impact. All our cruise missiles hit their target," said ministry spokesman General Igor Konashenkov.
Obama to overhaul U.S. program to support Syria rebels - CarterOverhaul does not imply giving up or throwing in the towel. Overhaul indicates, striving for improvement in order to get the job done.
LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is set to overhaul Washington's approach to supporting Syrian rebel forces following this year's deeply troubled launch of a U.S. military training program, and will speak on the matter within hours, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday."I think you'll be hearing very shortly from him in that regard about the proposals that he has approved and that we are going to go forward with," Carter told a news briefing in London
Pentagon- US to CHANGE Syrian rebel aka terrorist training program
The U.S. will overhaul the failed Syrian rebel training program, working more closely with capable Kurdish and other forces in Syria, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday.
I personally have zero doubt the US has already been working with the Kurdish forces. That cooperation has been covered on multiple occasions here- Kurds calling in bombing information. The US bombing Arab Syrian villages to allow the advance of Kurdish militias. The obvious symbiosis between NATO backed ISIS and NATO backed Kurds. The cooperation is clear!
U.S. officials have said the new effort would focus more on embedding recruits with established Kurdish and Arab units, rather than sending them directly into front-line combat. Last week, a commander of one of the U.S.-trained rebel units turned over a half-dozen U.S. vehicles to extremist militants.
He called it a “more strategic approach” than what the U.S. has been doing from the beginning. “We have been looking for now several weeks at ways to improve that program,” Carter said. “I wasn’t satisfied with the early efforts in that regard.”
Clearly the program has not ended- And it very likely hasn't changed all that much either.Judging by this last paragraph
Instead of fighting IS in small units, the U.S.-trained rebels would be attached to larger existing Kurdish and Arab forces. They would be equipped with U.S. communications gear and trained to provide intelligence and to designate IS targets for airstrikes in coordination with U.S. troops outside of Syria, the officials said.