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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US weighs more aid for Syria rebels
2012-07-28
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is weighing its options for more direct involvement in the Syrian civil war if the rebels opposing the Assad government can wrest enough control to create a safe haven for themselves, US officials said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
...who won't be remembered as the next John Foster Dulles...
says it is only a matter of time before the rebels have enough territory and organisation to create such areas.
She blabbered a fair bit about how great and enlightened the Libyan rebels were too...
“More and more territory is being taken,” Clinton said this week. “It will eventually result in a safe haven inside Syria, which will then provide a base for further actions by the opposition.”

Officials are already starting to brainstorm how a safe zone might allow Washington to step up its assistance, which has been limited to humanitarian aid and nonlethal equipment such as medical supplies and communications gear.

A senior American official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US is seeing “increased unity, cohesion and better military performance” among the rebels, including greater effectiveness in coordinating attacks, which the administration sees as proof the rebels are better employing the encrypted radios supplied by the US.

For now, US officials are standing by their assertion that they wonÂ’t provide arms to anti-Assad forces or push for a no-fly zone over rebel-controlled areas.

The discussions on Syria come as the US and its international partners look for a possibly game-changing shift in the countryÂ’s bloody, 16-month conflict.

The establishment of a safe zone would settle one issue: the lack of an actual place inside Syria for other nations to engage with the opposition on the ground and deliver supplies into the heart of the conflict.

The US would be able to shift Syrian-watching officials they have deployed in places such as Jordan and Turkey into Syria.

And governments such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar that have been providing weapons to the opposition would have a more direct pipeline for military assistance.

But officials cannot point to when the rebels might be able to carve out some autonomous space for themselves within Syria.

The rebels remain heavily outgunned by SyriaÂ’s better trained forces. And while theyÂ’ve been able to increase the breadth of their attacks across Syria, theyÂ’ve been constantly forced to cede back any temporary territorial gains they make.
Posted by:Steve White

#5  anti-tank weapons would be nice.
Posted by: Raider   2012-07-28 15:08  

#4  Keeps them busy. Keeps their minds off of killing us.
Posted by: tu3031   2012-07-28 14:23  

#3  The only intevention I would endorse would be that of assisting both sides equally. The winner remains in your debt (as much as an Arab memory will permit). The loser.... well, he's never heard from again anyway.
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-07-28 10:39  

#2  I still can't help thinking we should leave all this $hit alone and let them settle it themselves.

Too many of our pols have delusions of playing the French role in out revolution.
Posted by: AlanC   2012-07-28 10:10  

#1  So the Official Dithering Period has lapsed? Too little, too late Bumbles.
Posted by: USN, ret.   2012-07-28 00:30  

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