Pentagon may arm Syrian rebels
Washington is weighing expanding support for Syrian rebels by having the Pentagon take charge of arming the opposition instead of a clandestine effort by the CIA, officials say.
“It’s under consideration,” said a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“If and how (it would be done) are both questions being discussed,” the official said.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the possible change on Wednesday.
After concluding in June that the Syrian regime used sarin gas in a small-scale attack, President Barack Obama’s administration decided to start supplying weapons to the rebels through the Central Intelligence Agency.
But after another alleged chemical weapons attack on a larger scale – and as lawmakers debate whether to endorse Obama’s call for military action against the regime – the administration is looking at ratcheting up support for the rebels, two US officials said.
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Lawmakers have complained that promised weapons have yet to arrive, putting the opposition at a disadvantage against President Bashar al-Assad’s heavily-armed forces.
Obama’s deputies at hearings on Wednesday and Thursday acknowledged the holdup, while suggesting the administration was open to additional assistance for the rebels.
Under the CIA, support for the rebels is deemed covert and details of the assistance remain secret.
If the Pentagon took over, however, the cost and scope of the aid would no longer be classified.
The administration has been cautious in its approach to the rebels, citing concerns about Islamist extremists in the ranks with links to Al-Qaeda.
And delays in delivering weapons have reportedly been due to vetting efforts by the CIA.
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Meanwhile in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin has called US Secretary of State John Kerry a liar, claiming he had denied that al-Qaeda was fighting with the Syrian opposition in that country’s civil war.
Speaking to his human rights council on Wednesday, Putin recalled watching a congressional debate where Kerry was asked about al-Qaeda.
Putin said he had denied that it was operating in Syria, even though he was aware of the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra group.
“This was very unpleasant and surprising for me,” Putin said.
“We talk to them (the Americans) and we assume they are decent people, but he is lying and he knows that he is lying. This is sad.”
It was unclear exactly what Putin was referencing, but Kerry was asked on Tuesday while testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee if the Syrian opposition had become more infiltrated by al-Qaeda.
Kerry responded that that was “basically incorrect” and that the opposition has “increasingly become more defined by its moderation.”
When asked if a strike would make al-Nusra and other extremist forces stronger, Kerry responded: “No, I don’t believe you do (make them stronger). As a matter of fact, I think you actually make the opposition stronger. And the opposition is getting stronger by the day now.”
In testimony on Wednesday, Kerry said that he didn’t agree that “a majority (of the opposition) are al-Qaeda and the bad guys.”
Extremists amounted to 15 to 25 per cent of the opposition, he said, including al-Nusra and many other groups that are “fighting each other, even now.”
Putin also repeated Russia’s position that any use of military force against Syria without the approval of the UN Security Council would be an act of aggression.
AFP/AP
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