ANKARA, November 14 (Sputnik) — Turkey and the United States are holding their final round of talks on equipping and training the Syrian opposition to fight against the Islamic State (IS) militant group, Hurriyet Daily News reported Friday.
According to the newspaper, US and Turkish officials are meeting Friday in Ankara to make a final decision on the number of militants that will be trained and the location of the training.
It is expected that 2,000 fighters from the Syrian opposition will be involved, and the training will mainly take place in the northwestern governorate of Aleppo, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Moreover, the sides are to decide whether the Syrian Kurdish Peoples' Protection Unit will receive support, as Ankara opposes such a possibility.
IS, also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June, the group extended its attacks to northern and western Iraq, declaring a caliphate on the territories under its control.
In an attempt to impede the group's military advance, the United States launched airstrikes against the jihadists' positions in Iraq and Syria. Washington also said it was going to provide support, equipment and training to Kurdish and Iraqi forces and Syria's moderate opposition in order to respond to threats posed by the IS. Saudi Arabia and Turkey have agreed to host training sites.
