Turkey, US finalize agreement draft for training, equipping of Syrian opposition

Sevil Erkuş ANKARA

A woman walks past a damaged building in the Douma neighborhood of Damascus. Reuters photo

Turkey and the United States have finalized the draft of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on a program for training and equipping the moderate Syrian opposition, a Turkish official has announced.

In the coming days, officials from Turkey and the United States will sign the MoU, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç told reporters at a press conference on Feb. 17.

Bilgiç also said the training was likely to start in March. 

A total of 15,000 Syrians will be trained in Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia over three years as part of the campaign against jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.