Via Fox News:
Secretary of State John Kerry appeared to confirm Tuesday that the U.S. is training anti-Assad forces in the Syria conflict, saying the hope is to convince President Bashar Assad to “change his current calculation.”
Kerry, speaking to Fox News in Doha, Qatar, became the first U.S. official to acknowledge the off-site training on the record. He would not go into detail about the training, describing it as “one part” of the U.S. effort and something that “a lot of countries” are doing.
“I think what President Obama is hoping is to build on what has already happened. The president put in place sanctions and that helps to strip some of President Assad’s ability to fuel his war machine,” Kerry said.
A senior State Department official, though, later said Kerry was not confirming which specific countries were involved.
“In discussing the training of opposition fighters, the Secretary was referring to the totality of effort by Allies and partners who attended the Rome conference. He explicitly declined to say which countries are involved in that aspect of our joint effort,” the official told Fox News.