In a major shift of priorities in Syria, President Donald Trump ended a covert Obama-era program that sent arms to rebels fighting the Syrian government, U.S. officials told the Washington Post.
The shutdown of the program is the first time in the six-year conflict that the United States has shifted focus away from removing President Bashar al-Assad, a priority former President Barack Obama established in 2011.
The operation, codenamed Timber Sycamore, has sent up to $1 billion worth of weapons annually to rebels in Syria since 2013. Officials have long doubted the effectiveness of the program. In 2015, the House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously to reduce its funding by 20 percent.
An opposition fighter looks for government forces' positions in Syria's southwestern Quneitra Province on June 28, 2017. Mohamad Abazeed/AFP/Getty Images
