9 U.S.-trained rebels fighting in Syria: Pentagon

The Pentagon on Friday corrected the number of U.S.-trained Syrian rebels currently fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Syria to nine, two days after U.S. lawmakers grilled a top general and called the training program a "joke".

"There is actually a total of nine now currently active in Syria," said U.S. Air Force Col. Pat Ryder at a press conference.

According to Ryder, another 11 U.S.-trained Syrian fighters had also officially joined the New Syrian Forces (NSF), also known as Division 30, but have yet to arrive in Syria.

"So 20 NSF fighters are part of the program," said Ryder.

The NSF is a Syrian militant group approved by the United States as the linchpin of the Pentagon's effort to train and establish a local force within Syria to fight the IS. It provides the Pentagon with vetted trainees who would only fight the IS rather than the Syrian government.

However, the Pentagon's 500-million-dollar train-and-equip program got off to a disastrous start in Syria in July when members of the first round of 54 NSF trainees were either killed or taken hostage by the Syrian affiliate of al-Qaida group, the Nusra Front, even before their fight against the IS started. Other remaining fighters reportedly fled.

In a testy congressional hearing on Wednesday, General Lloyd Austin, who oversees the war against the IS, told U.S. lawmakers that only "four or five" U.S.-trained Syrian rebels currently remained in fight in Syria and the U.S. military would not reach its goal of training 5,000 Syrian fighters any time soon. Enditem