The daily said 83 of the U.S. soldiers were deployed at İncirlik Airbase and 40 others were transferred to the Hirfanlı base in the Central Anatolian province of Kırşehir.
Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said that Syrians who will be trained at Hirfanlı are expected to be transferred to the southern province of Hatay where they will briefed on the use of arms, including anti-tank weapons, infantry rifles and machine guns, before travelling to Syria to join the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
At İncirlik, a special group of U.S. personnel has also been tasked with equipping Syrians.
The U.S. was able to use Incirlik after intense negotiations between Ankara and Washington.
Turkey was long criticized for being reluctant to allow combat operations against ISIS to be staged from Turkish territory.
In November 2014, Hurriet Daily News said that Turkey and the United States have agreed a plan under which some 2,000 fighters from the moderate Syrian opposition would be trained on Turkish soil.
The United States will provide weapons for the fighters and is also expected to pay for the training, the English-language daily said.
In September, the U.S. Senate easily approved, by a vote of 78-22, controversial legislation requested by Obama to allow the training and arming of moderate Syrian rebels in their fight against Islamic State militants.
Source: Hurriyet; AFP
