Syrian war

Robert Gates: US Rebel Training Program 'Nuts'

A doomed US plan now on hold to train Syrian rebel fighters outside the country to fight the Islamic State was "nuts," former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

President Barack Obama's administration has suspended its $500 million train and equip effort in the latest embarrassment concerning a Syria strategy that has stumbled from one setback to the next.

Pentagon officials say that instead of training rebel units, the US military would dole out weapons to favored commanders already on the ground.

"I think the idea of training somebody from the outside and sending them in is nuts, it's just not going to work," Gates said in an interview with the Fox News Channel's "Special Report" aired Thursday.