A US-led program to train Syrian opposition fighters to fight Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants will start in May, Turkey's Defense Minister İsmet Yilmaz was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu news agency on Tuesday.
US officials have said they plan to train about 5,000 Syrian fighters a year for three years as part of a campaign against Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria.
Details on the training -- due to take place in Turkey, Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia -- have been scant, although it had previously been planned to start this month.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu said on Friday that the program had been delayed by Washington, but described the delay as minor and said that in technical and political terms, everything was otherwise on track.
(Cihan/Today's Zaman)
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