The
Obama administration has concluded that Syrian President Bashar Assad's
government used chemical weapons against the rebels seeking to overthrow him
and, in a major policy shift, President Obama has decided to supply military
support to the rebels, the White House announced Thursday.
"The
president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition
that will involve providing direct support to the Supreme Military Council.
That includes military support," Deputy National Security Adviser for
Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes told reporters.
President
Obama has repeatedly said that the use of chemical weapons is a "red
line" that, if crossed, would be a "game changer" for more U.S.
involvement in the Syrian civil war.
"The
President has been clear that the use of chemical weapons - or the transfer of
chemical weapons to terrorist groups - is a red line for the United
States," said Rhodes in a separate written statement.
"The
President has said that the use of chemical weapons would change his calculus,
and it has," he continued.
BEIRUT
— A Syrian rebel group's pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda's replacement for Osama
bin Laden suggests that the terrorist group's influence is not waning and that
it may take a greater role in the Western-backed fight to topple Syrian
President Bashar Assad.
The
pledge of allegiance by Syrian Jabhat al Nusra Front chief Abou Mohamad al-Joulani
to al-Qaeda leader Sheik Ayman al-Zawahri was coupled with an announcement by
the al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq, that it would work
with al Nusra as well.
Lebanese
Sheik Omar Bakri, a Salafist who says states must be governed by Muslim
religious law, says al-Qaeda has assisted al Nusra for some time.
"They
provided them early on with technical, military and financial support ,
especially when it came to setting up networks of foreign jihadis who were
brought into Syria," Bakri says. "There will certainly be greater
coordination between the two groups."
The
United States, which supports the overthrow of Assad, designated al Nusra a
terrorist entity in December. The Obama administration has said it wants to
support only those insurgent groups that are not terrorist organizations.
Al
Nusra and groups like it have seen some of the most significant victories
against Syrian government forces in the course of the 2-year-old uprising in
which Assad's forces have killed about 80,000 people. Rebels not affiliated
with al-Qaeda have pressed Washington for months to send weaponry that will
allow them to match the heavy weapons of the Syrian army. They've urged the
West to mount an air campaign against Assad's mechanized forces.
We the people are whitcha ma man....
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