US-trained Syrian rebels gave equipment to al-Qaeda affiliate

US-trained Syrian rebels gave the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front equipment in exchange for safe passage in Syria, a US spokesman said Friday, calling the development “very concerning.”

An unspecified number of New Syrian Forces (NSF) members gave up six trucks and some ammunition to a-Nusra Front members earlier this week to pass freely, Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for US Central Command, said in a statement quoted by Reuters Friday.

“If accurate, the report of NSF members providing equipment to al-Nusra Front is very concerning and a violation of Syria training and equip program guidelines,” he said.

The development is another blow to the controversial US effort to train rebels to fight jihadist groups, chief among them Islamic State, in Syria.

Last week, 75 Syrian rebels trained under the beleaguered US program crossed from Turkey into northern Syria to join the US-backed Division 30 unit to which some of the rebels were deployed.

Before the fresh batch of fighters, the US-led train-and-equip program had only managed to vet and train some 60 rebels to fight IS jihadists on the ground.

The $500 million program run out of Turkey has been fraught with problems.

Shortly after the 54 fighters embedded with Division 30 in July, they suffered a devastating assault by the al-Nusra Front.

More than a dozen of Division 30’s fighters were either killed or kidnapped by al-Nusra, which accused them of being “agents of American interests.”

The United States has since used its air power to help Division 30 push back other Nusra attacks and has said Syrian troops could be targeted if they attacked the US-backed forces.

The program, which had originally aimed to train around 5,400 vetted fighters a year for three years, has come under fire from US lawmakers.

Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte said the low number of fighters being trained was a “joke.”