President Donald Trump has decided to halt a covert CIA programme to arm and train rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, a move Russia has long pushed for it.

The programme had been established by Mr Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama in 2013 to put pressure on Assad to relinquish power.

Mr Trump is reported to have made the decision nearly a month ago, after an Oval Office meeting with national security adviser H.R. McMaster and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

The US president had hinted before coming to office that he would abandon support for the opposition, instead concentrating US efforts on “annihilating” Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).