Obama to authorize training of Syrian rebels: report

US President Barack Obama will authorize US troops to train selected Syrian rebels, in order to counter the rising power of al-Qaeda-linked extremists, a US newspaper reported Tuesday.

The White House did not confirm or deny the plan, but said it was "constantly considering available options to combat the terrorist threat emanating from Syria and to facilitate an end to the crisis."

The State Department would also not comment.

"The current policy approach continues to be strengthening the moderate opposition, which offers an alternative to the brutal Assad regime and the more extremist elements within the opposition," spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

Officially, US support for Syrian rebels has been limited to non-lethal aid amounting to $287 million, though the CIA reportedly participates in a secret program to train moderate rebels in Jordan. Experts, however, have said that the covert training programme has been on such a small scale so far that it has not had a qualitative impact on dynamics inside the country. 

“There’s a dribble – a small trickle of fighters, maybe 150 soldiers a month,” Joshua Landis, director of the Centre of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma said last month. “But there's not enough of them to make a difference.”

On Monday, Jordan and Syria expelled each others ambassadors. On the same day, the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), regarded by the West as Syria’s more mainstream and moderate opposition movement, reportedly opened an office in Amman. 

Obama may announce the new US position during a speech Wednesday at the West Point military academy.

"The president will make clear his intention to expand our support to the moderate Syrian operation and increase our support to Syria's neighbors, who are dealing with the terrorist threats emanating from the situation Assad has created in Syria," a senior administration official told the Wall Street Journal.

The president will not give details on how many rebels would be trained nor where their training would take place, the report said.

This position is the culmination of a year of discussions within Washington, which is torn between a desire to pressure the Syrian regime and the fear of being drawn into a new Mideast conflict.

But the rise of extremist rebel groups linked to al-Qaeda, and the pressure exerted by US allies in the region, in particular Saudi Arabia, have forced the decision, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The change in strategy would also follow high-level meetings this month with leaders of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC). The SNC's leader Ahmed Jarba has publicly and privately tried to reassure the West that the weapons would only go to moderate forces within the coalition. 

In recent weeks, Syrian rebels have reported receiving US-made TOW anti-tank missiles, without making clear whether the missiles were sent by Washington or by Saudi Arabia with US approval.

The "more than 20" missiles were provided to the Hazm movement, part of the opposition Free Syrian Army, which brings together mainly ex-army officers and soldiers who defected from the military to join the revolt, a rebel source told AFP.

"More have been promised should it be proven that the missiles are being used in an effective way," the source said.