United States Western Arab countries ready to give naval and air support to Syrian rebels 1112122

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Defence News - Syria
 
 
Tuesday, December 11, 2012, 11:30 AM
 
United States and Western and Arab countries ready to give naval and air support to Syrian rebels.
Washington and other Western and Arab powers plan to give air and naval support to Syrian rebels fighting the Assad regime, a British newspaper reported. High-level uniformed-services officers from the United States, Britain, France, Turkey, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates met privately in London a few weeks ago at the request of British Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss providing military training to the rebels and supporting them with air and naval power, The Independent reported Tuesday, December 11, 2012.
     
Washington and other Western and Arab powers plan to give air and naval support to Syrian rebels fighting the Assad regime, a British newspaper reported. High-level uniformed-services officers from the United States, Britain, France, Turkey, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates met privately in London a few weeks ago at the request of British Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss providing military training to the rebels and supporting them with air and naval power, The Independent reported Tuesday, December 11, 2012.
The Syrian rebels have no one source for their weapons and have had to scrape together their arsenal in various ways. Here, Abdel Hakim Yassin, a rebel commander in northern Syria, inspects a Yugoslav illumination mortar round that was brought to him by an Iraqi arms dealer.
     

The countries concluded the 21-month-old civil war in Syria had reached a tipping point and countries supporting the opposition must help rebel fighters succeed in a final push to defeat President Bashar Assad, the newspaper said.

Washington, London and Paris agreed at the meeting none of their countries would have "boots on the ground" to help the rebels.

Training camps could be set up in Turkey, the newspaper said.

But even the use of air and maritime forces would be highly contentious and likely to lead to charges from critics similar to those made before the downfall of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi that the West is carrying out regime change by force, The Independent said.

Any such military action would also likely take place without U.N. authorization, the newspaper said.

French newspaper Le Figaro reported French military advisers already met with Syrian rebel groups across the border in Lebanon. Washington is believed to have stockpiled weapons retrieved in Libya for future supply to Syria, The Independent said.