Syria slams U.S. bid to train Syrian rebels

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad on Saturday slammed the U.S. plan to train Syrian rebels, accusing Washington of supporting terrorism and complicating the political solution in Syria, the official SANA news agency reported.

"The United States will start training what it called 'moderate' Syrian rebels under the pretext of fighting Daesh and Nusra Front terrorists," Mekdad said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State (IS) group.

By that, "the United States is lying to its people and the global public opinion," he said, adding that "the United States, by training the rebels, is going to be supporting terrorism and complicating the conditions of a political solution in Syria to achieve its schemes in the region and to protect Israel."

Meanwhile, Mekdad called on the United States to "stay away from the policies of flagrant intervention in the countries' sovereignty and from the policy of changing regimes by force," SANA cited Mekdad's remarks from an op-ed he wrote to the Lebanese al-Bina newspaper.

Almost nine months after the U.S. Congress first authorized funding to train Syrian rebels, Washington officials said the United States has begun offering training to moderate Syrian rebels to combat the IS, adding that the training of around 90 vetted pre-screened rebels started in Jordan, as more training is expected to take place in Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Endit