A U.S. decision to halt a CIA program equipping and training certain rebel groups fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was not done as a concession to Assad ally Russia, a top U.S. general said on Friday.
"At least from what I know about that program and the decision to end it, (it was) absolutely not a sop to the Russians," U.S. Army General Raymond Thomas, head of the Special Operations Command, told the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
Earlier this week a U.S. official said the decision was part of an effort by the Trump administration to improve relations with Russia.
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