U.S. Considers Resuming Nonlethal Aid to Syrian Opposition
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON The Obama administration is considering the resumption of nonlethal military aid to Syrias moderate opposition, senior administration officials said on Thursday, even if some of it ends up going to the Islamist groups that are allied with the moderates.
The United States suspended the shipments last month after warehouses of equipment were seized by the Islamic Front, a coalition of Islamist fighters that broke with the American-backed Free Syrian Army and has become an increasingly vital force in the nearly three-year-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
But as a result of the rapidly shifting alliances within Syrias fractured opposition, some of the Islamists fought alongside the Free Syrian Army in a battle against a major rebel group affiliated with Al Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
That has eased American qualms about resuming the aid, the officials said.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/world/middleeast/syria-aid-may-resume-despite-fears-over-where-it-will-go.html?partner=MYWAY&ei=5065&_r=0
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)delrem
(9,688 posts)I react negatively to these unattributed generic "administration says" stories.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)We know that Assad is not going to be defeated by the gaggle of various rebel forces. But we want to "weaken" the Assad regime ahead of these chimerical peace talks that will maybe happen some time some day if we can only find reliable Syrian rebel interlocutors. So we work to prolong the military conflict by supplying a faction that cannot win. Nice.