Looks like the Americans are finding military ways to support the Syrian rebels despite their official position:
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NYTimes:
With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders. [...]The airlift, which began on a small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports.
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After two years of war and a deadlock it is inevitable the US will arm the rebels - they think they can win by attrition and that the Russians will be forced to let go once a few big bases fall. That's how the plan is shaping up. But like all US moves they don't seem to care who they use or what they break in the process of installing their preferred government.
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WND:
TEL AVIV – Has the White House been misleading the public by repeatedly denying it was coordinating arms shipments to the rebels in Syria, insurgents known to consist in large part of al-Qaida and other jihadist groups?
Other top U.S. officials and former officials, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have implied in congressional testimony that they didn’t know about any U.S. involvement in procuring weapons for them.
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See no arms deals, hear no arms deals, say no arms deals...
For all the Western bitching about Iran and Russia helping Assad's regime we should remember that the US and their allies helping the opposition is equally deserving of some bitching. What the US and the West is doing is prolonging the war rather than shortening it - they are promoting war rather than on a quest for peace. They also are rolling the dice on the unpredictable element of Islamist fanatics in the hope they can be utilised and then jetisoned later; but we know how these things pan out from previous interventions - a mess.
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NYTimes:
With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders. [...]The airlift, which began on a small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports.
--
After two years of war and a deadlock it is inevitable the US will arm the rebels - they think they can win by attrition and that the Russians will be forced to let go once a few big bases fall. That's how the plan is shaping up. But like all US moves they don't seem to care who they use or what they break in the process of installing their preferred government.
--
WND:
TEL AVIV – Has the White House been misleading the public by repeatedly denying it was coordinating arms shipments to the rebels in Syria, insurgents known to consist in large part of al-Qaida and other jihadist groups?
Other top U.S. officials and former officials, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have implied in congressional testimony that they didn’t know about any U.S. involvement in procuring weapons for them.
--
See no arms deals, hear no arms deals, say no arms deals...
For all the Western bitching about Iran and Russia helping Assad's regime we should remember that the US and their allies helping the opposition is equally deserving of some bitching. What the US and the West is doing is prolonging the war rather than shortening it - they are promoting war rather than on a quest for peace. They also are rolling the dice on the unpredictable element of Islamist fanatics in the hope they can be utilised and then jetisoned later; but we know how these things pan out from previous interventions - a mess.
