Syrian rebel chief who gave equipment to al-Qaeda “not U.S.-trained”September 28, 2015 - 13:25 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. military says a Syrian rebel commander who surrendered coalition-provided equipment to an al-Qaeda affiliate did not attend an American training program but a number of his soldiers did, the Associated Press reports. U.S. officials have for days been trying to sort out what happened last week, when reports surfaced that some U.S. equipment was given to an intermediary linked to the Nusra Front. Col. Pat Ryder, U.S. Central Command spokesman, says the commander was vetted by the U.S., but contrary to initial information, was not in the U.S. training program. The commander told officials he surrendered six trucks and some ammunition to the Nusra Front, totaling about 25 percent of the unit's coalition-provided supplies. The report underscores persistent problems with efforts to train and equip Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |