CIA vetting syrian rebels who get Arms

The united States plans to start supplying arms directly to Syrian rebels within a month, American officials said Thursday, as it emerged that the CIA has begun shipping weapons to a secret network of warehouses in neighbouring Jordan.

Leaked CIA plans disclose that Washington will dispatch arms from Jordan to specially vetted groups in the Free Syrian Army in co-ordination with european and Arab allies.

The “parallel push” will see supporters of Syrian rebels provide training and arms deliveries to the rebel forces deemed moderate and separate from al-Qaeda-linked forces.

The arms supplies are intended to be in the hands of the rebels before an offensive against bashar alAssad’s regime is launched in early August, according to The Wall Street Journal.

u.S. deliveries so far include light weapons and anti-tank missiles, but talks are under way with the French to send more supplies from europe. Saudi Arabia has promised to dispatch up to 20 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, capable of taking down regime fighter jets.

A CIA vetting procedure for those groups that are given weapons is the linchpin of the u.S. approach.

Officials said it was vital to bolster moderate groups so that they can blunt the appeal of the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda-linked movement that has grown to dominate the battle against the damascus regime.

“Numbers are an issue,” a counterterrorism official told The Wall Street Journal. “Al-Nusra has added thousands of fighters in the past year.

“We are going to have to outpace that.”

The development comes after Washington determined that the Assad regime had used chemical weapons against its opponents. united Nations inspectors who have been blocked from entering Syria moved into Turkey Thursday to com- pile evidence of such attacks.

The team will be unable to gather soil samples or scientific evidence needed to prove chemical use, but could compile intelligence and interviews or take blood samples from witnesses or victims.

Angela merkel, the German chancellor, has signalled growing acceptance of plans for european involvement in arming the rebels, conceding that “anyone with a heart” could understand Western countries wanting to help Syrians.

“In this desperate situation, which is increasingly threatening the entire region, surely each of us can understand that our friends and partners the u.S., britain and France are considering helping parts of the Syrian opposition with weapons shipments,” she said.

british officials have said they are not close to taking a decision on providing arms to the rebels and the government faces substantial opposition in Parliament.

meanwhile, a bipartisan group of u.S. lawmakers is pushing a resolution that would prevent President barack Obama from arming the Syrian rebels without congressional approval.

Countering the loud Senate voices clamouring for action, the libertarian republicans and liberal democrats told a news conference Thursday that they fear the united States being dragged into the deadly civil war that has killed more than 100,000 based on the latest estimates.

“If we intervene militarily, we will exacerbate the situation,” said rep. Chris Gibson, a republican who served more than two decades in the Army with multiple tours to Iraq and deployments to Kosovo and Haiti. He said he was concerned about the u.S. getting “sucked into a very difficult situation” when budget cuts have hit the military hard.

democratic rep. Peter Welch said everyone recognized that Syria was a humanitarian crisis as rebels have fought the Assad regime for more than two years.

He warned, however, about “Americanizing a civil war.”