Chambliss: Some trained Syrians will ‘be flipped’

The ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Friday the United States has to assume some Syrian rebels it trains will eventually flip, possibly joining the terrorist group they are meant to fight. 

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), who voted in favor of the resolution to arm rebels, said there is also no guarantee the rebels would not simply continue fighting the Assad regime, rather than battling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). 

{mosads}”There is no way you can be 100 percent certain that is going to happen,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “In fact, I would guess you are going to have to assume some of those folks we train will ultimately be flipped to another group, Maybe ISIS or somebody else.”

Chambliss joined with 77 other senators Thursday evening to approve President Obama’s request to train and arm vetted Syrian rebels to help defeat ISIS. 

The House approved the proposal Wednesday. 

“It is the only option, very honestly,” he said. “I was a supporter of it, but I’ll have to say I’m a very cautiously optimistic supporter of it. I don’t know whether it will work or not. But here is what I do know: It won’t work unless we have the entire Arab world buying in.”

The proposal would force the Pentagon to notify Congress 15 days before any training mission and would require updates to Congress every 90 days. 

The program would also require background checks to be conducted on all Syrian rebels that are provided training.