U.S. changes tack on rebel aid
ROME — In a significant policy shift, the Obama administration said Thursday it would for the first time provide non-lethal aid directly to rebels who are battling to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad, announcing an additional $60 million in assistance to Syria’s political opposition.
The modest package of aid to the military wing of the opposition will consist of an as-yet-undetermined amount of food rations and medical supplies for members of the Free Syrian Army, who will be carefully screened to ensure they do not have links to extremists.
The move was announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at an international conference on Syria in Rome, and several European nations are expected in the coming days to take similar steps in working with the military wing of the opposition in order to ramp up pressure on Assad to step down and pave the way for a democratic transition. However, a number of Syrian opposition figures expressed disappointment with the limited assistance.
“We do this because we need to stand on the side of those in this fight who want to see Syria rise again and see democracy and human rights,” Kerry said. “The stakes are really high, and we can’t risk letting this country in the heart of the Middle East be destroyed by vicious autocrats or hijacked by the extremists.”
“No nation, no people should live in fear of their so-called leaders,” he said, adding that U.S. President Barack Obama’s “decision to take further steps now is the result of the brutality of a superior armed force propped up by foreign fighters from Iran and Hezbollah.”
Kerry and senior officials from 11 countries most active in calling for Assad to leave said in a joint statement released by the Italian Foreign Ministry that they had agreed in Rome on “the need to change the balance of power on the ground.” It said the countries represented “will co-ordinate their efforts closely so as to best empower the Syrian people and support the Supreme Military Command of the Free Syrian Army in its efforts to help them exercise self-defence.”
Britain and France, two countries that Kerry visited before travelling to Italy on his first official trip as secretary of state, have signalled that they want to begin supplying the rebels with defensive military equipment such as combat body armour, armoured vehicles, night vision goggles and training. They are expected to make decisions on those items in the near future, in line with new guidance from the European Union, which still bars the provision of weapons and ammunition to anyone in Syria.
“We must go above and beyond the efforts we are making now,” said Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi, who hosted the conference. “We can no longer allow this massacre to continue.”
Appearing beside Terzi and Kerry, the leader of the Syrian opposition coalition, Mouaz al-Khatib, delivered a forceful and emotional demand for Assad to stop the brutality of his forces that have in recent days launched scud missile attacks on the city of Aleppo that have been roundly condemned by much of the Western and Arab worlds
“Bashar Assad, for once in your life, behave as a human being,” Khatib said. “Bashar Assad, you have to make at least one wise decision in your life for the future of your country.”
As the diplomats spoke, Syrian rebels were clashing Thursday with regime troops in the narrow stone alleyways around a historic 12th century mosque in the Old City of Aleppo. North of the city, a government airstrike north of the city killed at least seven people, activists said.
The rebels have made a number of strategic gains in northern Syria in recent weeks, including the capture of a hydroelectric dam and some military bases.