WASHINGTON: The US government is finalising a plan to increase training and small-arms shipments for Syrian rebels, two US security sources said on Friday, as Syrian government troops gain momentum following the collapse of US-backed peace talks.
The United States would increase assistance and send the shipments to moderate rebel factions mostly based in Jordan, along Syria’s southern border, the officials familiar with the plan told Reuters.
The additional supplies are likely to be modest and will not include surface-to-air missiles, the officials said, raising questions over the impact in a civil war that has killed an estimated 136,000 people, produced nine million refugees and threatens to destabilise the region.
Rebels have urged the Obama administration to provide advanced weapons including surface-to-air missiles and exert greater military pressure on Russia-backed Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, who has intensified bombings of rebel neighbourhoods in recent month.
But the US fears supplies of advanced weapons to pro-Western rebels could be diverted to Islamist militant groups, who could use them to attack allied, Israeli or civilian aircraft, the US officials said, explaining why the surface-to-air missiles won’t be included in the assistance.
President Barack Obama has resisted becoming entangled in Syria’s complex, two-year civil war, but has faced criticism for failing to take a tougher stand given the immensity of the humanitarian crisis.
Details of how much aid will flow to the screened rebel groups are the subject of continuing discussions. It’s also unclear, for instance, how much would be covert or whether there would be a US military or special forces role.
The assistance does not require additional funding from Congress, said the officials.
“Now we have to finalise the plans,” one official said.
A former government official familiar with the plan said that training would be done in small tranches.
The sources said that while the Obama administration accepts that the plan will not turn the tide of the conflict decisively against Assad, the US assistance could improve the chances that if Assad is deposed the United States will have allies among successful revolutionary forces.
US and European officials say the most powerful anti-Assad factions are militant groups such as the Al Nusrah and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, some of which either have links to Al Qaeda or are so extreme that even Al Qaeda has denounced them. REUTERS
