The United States cannot guarantee that the weapons it sends to militants in Syria will not end up in the hands of the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group, says the State Department.
When asked if the outgoing administration of President Barack Obama is able to guarantee the weapons being sent to Syria will not fall into the hands of the terrorists, the department’s spokesman Mark Toner said it would be “difficult” for anyone to say that “with complete confidence.”
“I’m never going to be able to say on any given battlefield – and we’ve talked about this before – that equipment assistance can’t change hands, but we haven’t seen it recently,” Toner said. “So for anyone to be able to say with complete confidence that any equipment or assistance isn’t changing hands from the battlefield or wherever is difficult to do it at best.”
He made the remarks shortly after Obama lifted restrictions on providing military aid for both foreign…