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The U.S. is training just 60 Syrian rebels to fight Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), well short of the 5,400 the Pentagon outlined as the core of a non-regime, pro-western army.

The figure was given by Ashton Carter, the U.S. defence secretary, as he addressed questions from the Senate’s armed forces committee on the Obama administration’s much-criticized policy on the Middle East.

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President Barack Obama has been promising since June 2013 to train, arm and equip a “moderate” rebel fighting force in the Syrian war. That pledge was renewed after the rise of ISIL, an al-Qaeda offshoot.

In January, the Pentagon said $500 million agreed by Congress in October would be spent training 5,400 “moderate” rebels who would fight ISIL. The aim was to find 3,000 in the first year, and in February the Pentagon was vetting the first of 6,000 rebel volunteers.