McCain says Syrian rebels need ammunition and heavy weapons

A leading Republican senator says Syrian rebels battling the forces of President Bashar Assad need ammunition and heavy weapons to counter the regime’s tanks and aircraft.

Sen John McCain spoke on Friday, the day after he returned from an unannounced trip to Syria. McCain says the rebels need some kind of capability to reverse a battlefield situation that currently favors Assad’sforces.

Gen. Salim Idris is chief of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army. He was with McCain on Monday as the lawmaker traveled inside Syria. McCain was the first U.S. senator to travel to Syria since the civil war began more than two years ago.

In a telephone interview, McCain said he met with 19 battalion commanders.

He says lethal aid could be provided to them.

AP - 06/01/2013

Canada opposes arming #Syria opposition

Canada’s top diplomat Tuesday warned of “more violence, more deaths and more destruction” in Syria that risks spilling over into neighboring countries if the EU arms Syrian rebels.

“My strong view is that the only way to end the suffering of the Syrian people is a political solution,” Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told reporters.

“Flooding the country and the region with more arms will lead to more violence, more deaths and more destruction, so certainly Canada has no intention of following suit,” he said.

“Our strong concern is the number of radical jihadist which have entered parts of the opposition and in our view, that’s not getting better, it’s getting worse.”

The EU agreed late Monday to lift its embargo on arming the Syrian opposition after much debate and a strong push by France and Britain.

05/28/2013 - AFP

Britain says no August deadline on arming Syrian rebels - #Syria

Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Tuesday that Britain was not bound by any deadline in deciding whether or not to arm the Syrian rebels, after the European Union lifted a weapons embargo.

He repeated that London had yet to decide if it will give the rebels weapons following the EU move late Monday, but he rejected suggestions that it could not do so until after an EU review of its position on August 1.

No EU member state intends to send any weapons immediately for fear of endangering the prospects of a peace conference dubbed Geneva 2 that Russia and the United States are trying to organize as early as next month.

Speaking to BBC radio, Hague said: “I must correct one thing, because I know there’s been discussion of some sort of August deadline. That is not the case.

“There will be a discussion in the EU by August 1.”

He added: “We have said we have made our own commitments that at this stage, as we work for the Geneva conference, we are not taking any decision to send any arms to anyone.

“But that is not related to a date of August 1. I don’t want anyone to think that therefore there is any automatic decision after August 1 or that we are excluded from doing so beforehand.”

05/28/2013 - AFP

EU foreign ministers divided on #Syria arms embargo

EU foreign ministers went into talks Monday sharply divided over lifting an embargo to arm Syrian rebels but seeking a compromise to underpin a Russian-US effort to bring the warring parties to a peace conference.

The EU talks were complicated further as Syria’s main opposition group remained split on the prospect of peace negotiations with Damascus despite four days of talks in Istanbul.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said “we think it is important that we show we are ready to amend the arms embargo” so as to send a message to President Bashar al-Assad that he cannot win.

Hague said changing the arms embargo would support the overall diplomatic effort.

“Let’s get people to the table and see if their positions have changed,” he said.

London and Paris have been pushing their partners to amend an existing arms embargo in order to help tip the military balance in favor of the rebels fighting Assad, but many EU nations are fiercely opposed to sending more weapons into a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.

The ministers however must find a solution before the expiry at midnight Friday of a far-reaching package of EU sanctions against the Assad regime, including the blanket arms embargo.

Britain and France want the embargo maintained against Assad but relaxed against the opposition Syrian National Coalition, but a group of nations including Austria, Finland, the Czech Republic and Sweden want no change, or at least none before a proposed peace conference being pushed by Russia and the United States.

Austria’s Michael Spindelegger said he had talked to Hague before the meeting to tell him that “we have arguments against” easing the arms embargo.

If there has to be an amendment, Spindelegger said he hoped to find a compromise “to [extend] the arms embargo” but still allow time to “see what comes out of” the mooted second peace conference in Geneva.

Several other ministers made similar remarks as they went into Monday’s meeting, suggesting that a wait-and-see approach was best for the moment.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet his Russian and French counterparts in Paris Monday, pushing the idea for a “Geneva 2” conference aimed at ending the more than two-year conflict, which activists say has killed more than 94,000 people.

With the Syrian opposition deeply divided, Damascus has upped the ante, saying it would attend a new Geneva conference as a “good opportunity for a political solution”.

The opposition’s long-standing position is that it will not negotiate until Assad quits.

05/27/2013 - AFP

Row on arming #Syria rebels deeply divides EU

A fierce row over whether to arm Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces has left the European Union deeply divided days before the bloc needs to decide on renewing existing sanctions.

After months of bitter argument the issue comes to a head next week, with EU foreign ministers pressed for an answer at talks Monday, their last get-together before the expiry at midnight Friday of far-reaching EU sanctions against the Assad regime, including an arms embargo.

Britain and France want the arms embargo maintained against Assad but relaxed against the opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC).

At best, they said, it would be lifted entirely for the rebels; at worst changed, with “some very serious amendment that allows us to send them more assistance.”

But other EU nations and aid groups are vehemently opposed to any change, citing the huge risks involved.

“Transferring more weapons to Syria can only exacerbate a hellish scenario for civilians,” said aid organization Oxfam’s Anna Macdonald. “The UK and France are charting a risky course of action. Diplomacy should be the priority.”

After a flurry of negotiations, held daily at different levels over the past week as the May 31 deadline nears, Brussels diplomats and officials say the 27 EU nations have split into three groups over the question.

Should the bloc fail to agree a joint position by Friday, the whole sanctions regime including the arms embargo would lapse, allowing the delivery of weapons to both rebels and the regime.

“We haven’t taken the decision to supply arms but we believe member states should have the flexibility to do so,” said a UK diplomat who asked not to be identified.

Violently opposed to the demands by Britain and France, which appear to have lost the support of Italy and Spain, are Scandinavian nations led by Sweden as well as Austria and the Czech Republic.

They want the current sanctions regime simply rolled over as it stands on the grounds that more weapons will cause more bloodshed and could end up in the hands of the growing numbers of radical Islamists joining rebel ranks.

The third group of nations, some of whom complained of being held to ransom by Britain and France, are seeking a compromise to avoid an embarrassing EU split.

“It’s of paramount importance for the EU to come up with a common position,” said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Friday.

“The worst would be to for Europe to show its divisions to Syria. That would likely very much please the Assad regime.

The EU’s diplomatic service, headed by Catherine Ashton, is cautioning capitals against “any counter-productive move” that could hamper current Russia-US efforts to relaunch peace talks in Geneva, expected to take place next month.

“This could call for allowing more time for reflection on the issue of lifting the arms embargo,” said an internal note that reflects moves by some nations to renew the sanctions for a short period, thus allowing time to see if the so-called “Geneva 2” takes off.

Of seven to eight options laid out by the EU’s diplomatic service, one likely compromise would be an agreement that EU states could provide the rebel coalition with arms but only those set out on an agreed list of lethal weapons.

Another suggestion would be to accompany supplies with safeguards to stop weapons ending up in the wrong hands, or to issue export licenses on a case-by-case basis.

In a note to Ashton weeks ago, London and Paris argued that lifting the arms embargo against the opposition would put pressure on Assad to find a political settlement, rather than exacerbate war.

“It is only by increasing the pressure on the regime that we can help bring [Assad] to the negotiating table and keep open the prospect of a political solution,” said British Foreign Secretary William Hague and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

But EU officials close to the debate dub such moves to pressure Assad via threats of tipping the military balance as “simply naive”.

“The only threat capable of scaring Assad would be for Moscow or Tehran to threaten to cut off assistance,” one official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

AFP - 05/25/2013

“All options on table” over #Syria, US official says

A senior US administration official said Thursday that “all options are on the table” if it can be confirmed that Syria has used chemical weapons against opposition forces.

The White House said earlier in the day that Syria had likely used chemical weapons against rebel fighters on a “small scale,” but emphasized that US intelligence agencies are still not 100 percent sure of the assessment.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington wants to be absolutely sure that Syria has used chemical weapons before concluding that Damascus has crossed a “red line,” triggering possible military action.

“What we will be doing is consulting closely with our friends and allies and the international community more broadly as well as the Syrian opposition to determine what the best course of action is,” he told reporters.

“I don’t want to go to hypotheticals at this juncture,” the official added.

“But suffice to say, all options are on the table, in terms of our response, and it could run a broad spectrum of activity across our various types of efforts in Syria.”

The official recalled that the United States is already engaged in “diplomatic initiatives [and] assistance to the opposition” in Syria, where the US says a grinding civil war has left more than 70,000 dead since March 2011.

“But again, at the president’s direction, there are additional options and contingencies that we prepare for, that we would have to consider as we make our determination about chemical weapon use.”

Speaking earlier Thursday, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said US intelligence services have assessed “with varying degrees of confidence” that Syria has used chemical weapons “on a small scale.”

The assessment, based in part on what Hayden called “physiological samples,” points to the possible use of sarin, a man-made nerve agent used in two attacks in Japan in the 1990s.

Hayden warned, however, the chain of custody of the weapons was “not clear, so we cannot confirm how the exposure occurred and under what conditions.”

“Given the stakes involved, and what we have learned from our own recent experience, intelligence assessments alone are not sufficient,” she said.

Mounting evidence of chemical weapons attacks on fighters battling Assad’s regime could increase the pressure on Obama — who has sought to avoid any US military role in the conflict — to intervene.

On Capitol Hill, members of Congress urged Obama to take action to “secure” Syria’s chemical weapons.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that a red line has been crossed,” Senator John McCain told reporters, adding that there is a danger of chemical weapons falling into the hands of extremists.

“We have to have operational capability to secure these chemical weapon stocks. We do not want them to fall into the wrong hands, and the wrong hands are a number of participants in the struggle that’s taking place in Syria.”

04/25/2013 - AFP

#Syria opposition urges UN to act over chemical arms

Syria’s opposition on Friday urged the UN Security Council to take immediate action after the United States said for the first time the regime probably used chemical weapons.

The call came as British Prime Minister David Cameron said that growing evidence of the use of chemical weapons by President Bashar al-Assad was “extremely serious” and called for increased foreign pressure on the Syrian regime.

“It is time for the UN Security Council to act” on Syria, an official from the main opposition National Coalition told AFP on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

The UN Security Council has been stalled over Syria for more than two years, with members Russia and China backing Assad and vetoing several draft resolutions that would have imposed sanctions on the regime.

“This is a massive issue, and the Security Council’s paralysis over Syria is no excuse,” the Coalition official said.

“The UN needs to immediately investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Should it find the regime used such weapons, it must act immediately, at least by imposing a no-fly zone,” he added.

“If the Security Council cannot break its paralysis, proof of the use of chemical weapons by the regime would open the way for others, such as NATO, to act.”

The National Coalition has accused the regime of using chemical weapons in the northern province of Aleppo, in Homs in the center of Syria and in rebel-held areas near Damascus.

04/26/2013 - AFP/NOW

Obama feels heat over #Syria chemical weapons claims

Growing speculation that the Syrian regime is using chemical weapons is turning up the heat on President Barack Obama, who has warned such a move would be a game changer.

The US administration, both in public and in private, says it has not concluded that such arms — of which President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has a large stockpile — have been employed in the bloody civil war.

But “it’s important that we do whatever we can to monitor, investigate and verify any credible allegations, given the enormous consequences for the Syrian people and given the President’s clear statement that chemical weapons use is unacceptable,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday.

On March 20, during a historic visit to Israel, Obama said the use of such weapons would be a “grave and tragic” mistake on Assad’s behalf and that it would be a “game changer.”

Washington has also warned that any use or transfer of chemical weapons would cross a “red line” and possibly trigger military action.

Recent statements from US allies seem to suggest such arms — illegal under international law — may already have been unleashed.

The latest came Tuesday when Israeli Brigadier General Itai Brun, head of the research and analysis division of military intelligence, alleged Assad’s regime had used chemical agents — mostly likely sarin gas — more than once.

“To the best of our professional understanding, the [Assad] regime has made use of deadly chemical weapons against the rebels in a number of incidents in the last few months,” Brun told a security conference in Tel Aviv.

His comments come on the heels of similar assessments reported to the United Nations by France and Britain last month.

“The British and French submitted a letter to the UN Secretary General on March 21st to ‘bring attention to recent allegations from various sources that chemical weapons have been used in Syria,’” a senior administration official told AFP.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official added that the use of chemical weapons in an environment like Syria was very difficult to confirm.

“Given the stakes involved, low confidence assessments by foreign governments cannot be the basis for US action,” the official said.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, on a visit to Cairo Wednesday, said any evidence had to be weighed carefully.

“This is serious business and you want to be as sure as you can be on these kind of things,” Hagel said, adding the United States ultimately had to rely “on its own intelligence.”

Gregory Koblentz of the Council on Foreign Relations underscored it was important that the evidence was highly reliable, “ideally from two or more independent sources, or types of analyses that can give you that type of confidence.”

And that’s not currently the case in Syria, where access is tough and evidence transmission chains are weak.

“It’s very difficult to make that assessment, unless you have trained experts who are on the ground immediately after an attack, or able to collect samples, interview victims, interview witnesses and move about freely,” Koblentz said.

“It’s not surprising to me that different countries are coming up with different assessments because the evidence isn’t probably as strong and conclusive.”

Aram Nerguizian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said “it would take a lot more than a low grade assessment from the French and the British to trigger a major escalation here in Washington.”

“Does that mean that there’s not going to be pressure to do something? No. There will certainly be pressure in the US, pressure in the Gulf, pressure in Syria, pressure in Europe,” he told AFP.

Nerguizian also noted that Obama was cautious in formulating his warnings to Damascus, saying his statement on red lines “has always had some inbuilt ambiguity.”

“An ambiguity can be an asset, and it can be a liability, if it’s viewed as the ladder to something that puts the administration in a difficult position,” Nerguizian said. “And it has to resist the urge for a major and uncalculated response.”

04/25/2013 - AFP

EU puts off rebel arms decision on #Syria anniversary

Syria’s devastating conflict entered its third year on Friday with no agreement among EU leaders on British and French calls for an easing of the bloc’s embargo to allow arms supplies to the rebels.

With several member states expressing strong opposition, EU leaders at a summit in Brussels put off further discussions on the future of the arms embargo until a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Dublin next week.

EU President Herman Van Rompuy said that leaders had discussed easing it and “agreed to task our foreign ministers to assess the situation as a matter of priority” in Ireland.

Both London and Paris had warned they were ready to break ranks with their European partners to supply weapons to the rebels as their frustration mounts that diplomacy has failed to end the conflict.

But there appeared little appetite among other Europeans for lifting the ban, many fearing that a flood of weapons into Syria will only escalate the bloodshed.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said Vienna was not prepared to lift the ban. “We think the delivery of arms does not contribute to a possible solution,” he told reporters.

A Spanish diplomatic source said there was widespread hesitation about arming the rebels.

03/15/2013

Source: now.com

US defense chiefs backed arming Syria rebels - #Syria

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday acknowledged for the first time that the Pentagon had backed proposals to arm the Syrian opposition battling to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

The idea — ultimately rejected — was first floated by then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who met privately with David Petraeus, CIA chief at the time, in the summer of 2012 as fighting raged in Syria.

They proposed vetting rebel groups and training fighters in a plan which they presented to the White House, according to the New York Times, quoting administration officials.

But the administration of President Barack Obama was worried about the risks of pouring more arms into the volatile conflict and rejected the idea, sticking instead to providing humanitarian assistance and non-lethal aid.

Panetta and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey, admitted under questioning in the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that they had both supported the idea.

“I would ask again, both of you, what I asked you last March when 7,500 citizens of Syria had been killed. It’s now up to 60,000. How many more have to die before you recommend military action?” Senator John McCain asked them.

“And did you support the recommendation by then secretary of state Clinton and then head of CIA General Petraeus that we provide weapons to the resistance in Syria? Did you support that?”

“We did,” replied Panetta. “We did,” added Dempsey.

McCain, who has long advocated arming the rebels, said in a statement later he “was very pleased to hear” both men say they supported the proposal.

“What this means is that the president overruled the senior leaders of his own national security team, who were in unanimous agreement that America needs to take greater action to change the military balance of power in Syria,” he said.

McCain called on Obama to heed the advice of his former and current national security leaders and “immediately take the necessary steps, along with our friends and allies, that could hasten the end of the conflict in Syria.”

“The time to act is long overdue, but it is not too late.”

02/08/2013 

Source: afp.com

US official: Israeli raid hit Syrian missiles, buildings - #Syria

An Israeli air raid in Syria this week struck surface-to-air missiles and a nearby military complex on the outskirts of Damascus, as Israel feared the weapons would be transferred to Hezbollah, a US official said Friday.

 

Earlier reports had suggested Israeli warplanes may have targeted two separate locations in Wednesday’s raid in Syria: a military site outside of the capital and a weapons convoy near the Lebanese border.

But the US official said the strike was confined to one location.

“It was in the suburbs of Damascus,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

“There were surface-to-air missiles on vehicles” that were targeted by the Israel aircraft, he said, adding that they were believed to be Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles.

The planes also bombed an adjacent military complex of buildings suspected of housing chemical agents, the official said.

The Israelis suspected the weapons would be transferred to Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah group, he said.

The Syrian regime has accused Israel of launching a dawn strike Wednesday on a military research center in Jamraya, near Damascus, and threatened to retaliate.

But the Israeli government has maintained a public silence on the strike.

Israel has repeatedly expressed concern that Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah group, which is an ally of the Damascus regime, or other militant organizations.

02/02/2013

Source: afp.com

12/23/2012 - #Syria - Homs - Seven people died after inhaling poisonous gas

Seven people have died in Homs after they inhaled a poisonous gas sprayed by government forces in a rebel-held neighbourhood, activists said.

Activists also told Al Jazeera that scores of others were affected in al-Bayyada neighbourhood. Side effects reported include nausea, relaxed muscles, blurred vision, and breathing difficulties.

Residents said they did not know the nature of the gas sprayed.

“The situation is very difficult. We do not have facemask. We don’t know what this gas is but medics are saying it’s something similar to Sarin gas,” Raji Rahmet Rabbou, an activist in Homs, told Al Jazeera.

Source: aljazeera.com

#Syria rebels hope arms will flow to new fighter command

Syrian rebels expect greater military help from Gulf Arab states after they announced a new command structure which aims finally to unite President Bashar al-Assad’s armed opponents, rebel commanders said on Monday.

Rebel fighters have made gains across the country in the last month, seizing military bases and taking on Assad’s better-armed forces on the fringes of his powerbase in Damascus.

Activists said fighting raged on Monday in southern Damascus near the international airport and reported clashes in the northern Damascus districts of Rukneddine and Salhiyeh - the heaviest there since the uprising began 20 months ago.

Despite using more effective battlefield tactics and acquiring more arms, the mainly Sunni Muslim fighters have so far lacked the firepower to deliver a decisive blow to Assad, from the Alawite minority linked to Shi’ite Islam.

Abu Moaz al-Agha, a leader and spokesman of the powerful Gathering of Ansar al Islam which includes many Islamist rebel brigades, said the new, Islamist-dominated military command elected in Turkey over the weekend could change that.

“What we need now is the heavy weapons and we expect to get them after the formation of this. The anti-armor and anti-aircraft weapons are what we are expecting,” he told Reuters by Skype from Turkey before heading to the Gulf.

“The Qataris and the Saudis gave us positive promises. We will see what will happen,” he said, adding that officials from Western countries, who also attended the meeting in Turkey, had not mentioned arming the rebels but talked about “sending aid”.

At least 40,000 people have been killed in Syria’s uprising, which started with street protests which were met with gunfire by Assad’s security forces, and spiraled into the most enduring and destructive of the Arab uprisings.

Stalemate between major powers, particularly the United States and Russia, has paralyzed the wider international response to the violence, leaving regional Sunni Muslim states such as Turkey and the Gulf Arab countries helping the rebels and Shi’ite Iran providing support to Assad.

Washington and Moscow sent their deputy foreign ministers to talks with international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Sunday, but a statement after the meeting showed little sign of breakthrough, although they agreed a political solution was possible in Syria.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle announced on Monday that four Syrian embassy staff were expelled from Berlin, to send a “clear message that (Germany is) reducing relations with the Assad regime to an absolute minimum”.

“REAL HOPES”

The new rebel command brings together most existing rebel entities including brigades which formed an Islamist front two months ago and “provincial military councils” which operated under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army.

A commander in an Islamist brigade in the northern province of Aleppo, which also had a strong presence in the new body, said it would ensure proper supervision of weapons supplies.

“This time people have real hopes. We believe that weapons will be delivered,” he said. “One of the main reasons for the formation of this body is so that thefts (of weapons) are controlled, and each one will get their rights and put the control in the hands of those inside and not outside Syria.”

Rebels of the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, one of the most efficient fighters in Syria, are not part of the new body.

“They have their own leaders and their own structure, they fight side by side with the Free Syrian Army. We have only seen good things from them and they are good fighters,” said Abdul Jabbar al-Oqaidi, a senior commander in the new group.

Activists said rebels strengthened their hold on Monday over a military base in the Sheikh Suleiman region of Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city, which they overran a day earlier.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence across the country, said rebel fighters had been trying to seize the site for two weeks, after they captured a special forces base in the region last month.

The group also reported clashes in northern Damascus, where residents said parents rushed to pick up children early from school. One elementary school bus had only three students in it - one of them told the bus supervisor that all the others were collected early by their parents.

At a nearby girls’ high school, the headmistress was trying to dissuade a mother from pulling out her 16-year-old daughter before the day’s end. “If we keep letting parents pick up their kids anytime something happens, they’ll be in a constant state of panic,” she said.

The mother tried to explain that even though she was trying to keep a calm household, her husband was “really freaking out when we heard gunshots in our own street” earlier today.

In another sign of the sectarian and violent nature of the conflict, a video which activists said was filmed in the central city of Homs showed what appeared to be a youth with a long knife decapitating a man, identified as an Alawite officer. It was not possible to verify the video.

BEIRUT | Mon Dec 10, 2012 11:21am EST

Source: reuters.com