Martin Keown (centre), a former British soccer player for Arsenal, with Syrian refugee children during the official opening of Save the Children’s new soccer field at the Al Zaatri refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, yesterday.
WASHINGTON: The United States is rethinking its opposition to arming the Syrian rebels, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said yesterday, as pressure builds for a US response to Syria’s suspected use of chemical weapons in its civil war.
Hagel stressed that no decision by US President Barack Obama had been made and did not signal whether one was likely soon on arming opposition fighters trying to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
US military commanders have voiced concerns that weapons could fall into the hands anti-American Islamic extremists and that arming opposition groups may do little to end the conflict.
“You look at and rethink all options. It doesn’t mean you do or you will” choose them, Hagel said.
“These are options that must be considered with partners, with the international community: what is possible, what can help accomplish (our) objectives,” he added.
Reuters
