CIA to supply rebels from secret bases
Date June 16, 2013
Greg Miller, Joby Warrick
A rebel fighter with a tank reportedly confiscated from an army barracks. The US has sharply toughened its line on Syria, promising the rebels weapons for the first time. Photo: AFP
The CIA is preparing to deliver arms to rebel groups in Syria through clandestine bases in Turkey and Jordan that were expanded over the past year to establish reliable supply routes for non-lethal material, US officials have said.
It is expected to begin conveying limited shipments of weapons and ammunition within weeks.
Syria experts caution the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad remains a chaotic mix of secular and Islamist elements, highlighting the risk that some of the arms could be diverted from their intended recipients. But US officials involved in the planning say the CIA has developed a clearer understanding of the composition of rebel forces.
''We have relationships today in Syria that we didn't have six months ago,'' President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser, Benjamin Rhodes, said on Friday.
The confidence is in contrast to the concerns of US intelligence officials last year that US spy agencies were struggling to gain a firm understanding of opposition elements - a factor cited at the time as a reason the Obama administration was unwilling to consider providing arms.
Mr Rhodes said the change was driven by intelligence that the Assad regime had used chemical weapons, including sarin gas, on at least four occasions. Mr Obama also faced mounting pressure to intervene more aggressively as members of Congress and overseas allies became increasingly alarmed that Dr Assad's forces were gaining strength with expanded assistance from Russia and Iran.
The US move has sharply upped the ante on Syria.
The Kremlin, which has backed the regime diplomatically and militarily and ignored months of Western pleas to use its influence to rein in Dr Assad, reacted with derision to Washington's finding that Syria had used chemical weapons.
''What was presented by the Americans does not look convincing to us,'' President Vladimir Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said, before comparing the findings to the US intelligence dossiers on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
In Washington, Senator John McCain said the increased US support for the Syrian opposition was woefully inadequate, accusing President Obama of ''insane'' and ''disgraceful'' inaction amid the massacre of 93,000 people.
''For us to sit by and watch these people being massacred, raped, tortured, in the most terrible fashion, meanwhile the Russians are all in, Hezbollah is all in, and we're talking about giving them light weapons? It's turning into a regional conflict, not just a conflict within Syria.''
The weapons shipments are expected to be concentrated on routes out of Turkey, but US officials say deliveries will probably also flow into southern Syria from Jordan.
