United States considering military options in Syria as rebels plead for arms and no-fly zones 100212

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Friday, February 10, 2012, 08:40 AM
 
United States considering military options in Syria as rebels plead for arms and no-fly zones.
The United States and its allies are studying the possibility of giving military aid to the Syrian rebels after Russia and China vetoed a UN peace plan to end President Assad’s brutal crackdown. A United States official told The Times that the Pentagon had drawn up contingency plans for possible action in support of the opposition. Options could include arming the rebels and the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to protect civilians.
     
The United States and its allies are studying the possibility of giving military aid to the Syrian rebels after Russia and China vetoed a UN peace plan to end President Assad’s brutal crackdown. A United States official told The Times that the Pentagon had drawn up contingency plans for possible action in support of the opposition. Options could include arming the rebels and the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to protect civilians.
Free Syrian army fighters use civilian cars converted into fighting vehicle as in Libya conflict.
     

US officials said they were “scoping out" military options but insisted that the plans were as yet “academic". A Whitehall source said that the British military was “monitoring and assessing" the situation in Syria, but had not gone so far as specific contingency planning. “That requirement will be decided by the political situation."

Sources say that Qatar has provided 3,000 satellite telephones to the Syrian opposition and is considering supplying the FSA (Free Syrian Army) with European-made Milan anti-tank missiles, as well as night-vision equipment. Saudi Arabia has also started giving financial backing to the opposition, Syrian dissidents have said.

Sheikh Zuheir Abassi, a Syrian Islamist who acts as a logistical co-ordinator for the Free Syrian Army, told The Times that the FSA was asking for no-fly zones and a safe haven from which rebel forces could operate in safety. “If we were given these two, most of the Army would desert and join us," he said. “We are not asking the West to intervene but to give us weapons. We can do the rest."

According to a YouGov poll yesterday, 55 per cent of Britons oppose arming the Syrian rebels, although 60 per cent were in favour of imposing a Libya-style no-fly zone.

Syrian forces pounded the city of Homs for a fifth day running yesterday, killing as many as 100 people, despite President Assad’s assurance to Russia that he was willing to discuss peace terms.

With Russia and China backing the Assad regime, and the United States and the West — including Turkey, a crucial regional power — backing the rebels, the conflict would have Cold War echoes. The Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, warned the West against intervention, although Russia is the main arms supplier to Syria.

In any intervention, Turkey would play a key role. The Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a one-time Assad ally who has turned on the regime and styles himself as a regional protector of oppressed Sunnis, said that he was convening an international summit “as soon as possible" to discuss the situation after the UN “fiasco". His Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said that he hoped intervention would not be required but did not rule it out.