The U.S. military will send more than 400 troops this spring to train Syrian rebels to fight against the Islamic State group, Reuters reported.
Rebels will be trained at camps in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Defense Department spokeswoman Elissa Smith told the Army Times.
Smith said hundreds of additional military "enablers" will be needed to support the 400 trainers, Defense One reported. Enablers provide security along with other support to the trainers.
Coalition partners are likely to send troops as well to help with the training program, which is expected to train some 5,400 rebel forces each year for three years so they can fight off Islamic State militants, who have gained control of vast areas of Syria and Iraq.
The Pentagon estimated that more than 5,000 rebels can be trained in the first year and that a total of 15,000 will be needed to drive out the Islamic State from Syria. The program is expected to cost around $500 million.
The Syrian government, on the other hand, was less than thrilled about the announcement, as rebel groups have also been working to overthrow it.
Syria's state news agency SANA said the training program only proves that the U.S. was "continuing to support terrorism in Syria," Reuters reported.
One of the most difficult tasks for Washington will be the process of vetting rebels to ensure that they don't already have ties to the Islamic State, al-Qaeda or any of its affiliates, and to ensure that rebels won't defect to a terrorist group.
Up to 3,000 Free Syrian Army "moderate" rebels recently left the organization and joined the Islamic State group according to Al-Masdar Al-'Arabi news agency. The U.S. has openly armed and provided the Free Syrian Army with training and weapons including rockets and TOW anti-tank missiles.
So-called moderate rebel groups said last September that they will continue to use U.S. weapons to fight both the Islamic State group and the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, reported The Daily Beast.
More than 3,000 troops have also been sent to Iraq to train security forces for their fight against the Islamic State. The cost for that program is $1.2 billion, according to The Huffington Post.
