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Syrians are lining up to fight ISIS

Syrian volunteers are signing up to join the fight against the Islamic State faster than American military advisers can train them.

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Robert Burns/AP
Syrian Arab trainees practice firing their small arms at an undisclosed training range in northern Syria on Saturday. A surge of Syrians are volunteering to fight the Islamic State.

With the number of Syrian聽volunteers聽to fight the Islamic State militant group surging, Americans training them are becoming increasingly optimistic that a Kurdish and Arab聽army can defeat ISIS simply by outnumbering it. 聽

Following victories against the Islamic State, including the recapture聽of al-Shaddadah聽in northeast聽Syria, the聽number of Arabs who have聽volunteered to fight this spring has聽outpaced American聽military advisers' capacity to train them. This聽growth聽plays into a US聽strategy that a volunteer army larger than ISIS's聽can conquer the Islamic State's聽self-declared capital of聽Raqqa in聽Syria, further weakening it there聽and in Iraq.聽聽

News of this groundswell of聽volunteers could foreshadow the聽decline of ISIS in Syria and Iraq as well, as Kurds and other ethnic groups form militias to rid their homes of the Islamic State, and as the United States聽becomes further involved in the聽war. First, though,聽many of these volunteers聽must learn how to fight.

One US military adviser training volunteers聽called the recruits "raw ... literally civilians coming off the streets," as the Associated Press reports. Still, the US has聽organized聽them into an army聽it calls the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Syrian Kurds comprise 25,000 of SDF's fighters, while Syrian Arabs comprise 5,000 to 6,000.聽聽

An attack on Raqqa would require at least 6,000 soldiers, one adviser estimated.聽

The ethnic and even gender makeup of the SDF is as complex as its fighters' training. One faction, the YPJ, is an all-women militia that is mostly Kurdish. Along with other Kurdish militant groups, YPJ are聽considered "terrorists"聽by the United States,聽European聽Union, and Turkey, as the Monitor has previously reported:

Even聽though groups like the聽[Kurdistan Workers' Party]聽PKK; and its Syrian affiliate, the Democratic Union Party (PYD); its fighting branch, the YPG; and the all-female YPJ all bear the "terrorist" label, they are major actors in the fight against ISIS. For that reason, the United States has聽聽to the anti-ISIS group, People's Protection Units (YPG) .聽

How does the United States justify its continued support for the YPG聽in light of the Syrian group鈥檚 close ties to the PKK, which the United States continues to label a terrorist group?聽

鈥淭he United States needs the YPG to fight the Islamic State,鈥 says Henri聽Barkey, the director of the Woodrow Wilson Center鈥檚 Middle East program, 鈥淭he US says, yes, they have close links to the PKK, but the leadership is different, which is the most important thing.鈥澛

The increase in Syrian volunteers contrasts with a decline in聽the number of ISIS fighters there聽because of battlefield deaths and fewer聽volunteers. But, that's聽not all good news, as the Monitor's Howard聽LaFranchi reported in February: 聽

[ISIS] is taking advantage of Libya鈥檚 power vacuum to extend control beyond its stronghold of Sirte on Libya鈥檚 Mediterranean coast. Islamic State militants this week seized another city on the main road between Sirte and聽Misrata, Zimmerman says, and in past weeks have set their sights on oil installations.聽

These steady gains have led to a rising sense of 鈥渉ere we go again鈥 in capitals from Cairo to Paris and renewed demands for preemptive action before the Islamic State takes deeper root and becomes much more difficult to dislodge.

This report contains material from the Associated Press.

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