As David Willis reports
from Washington, President Obama had previously said proof of chemical
weapons would be a "game-changer" in Syria
Syria
has dismissed as "a caravan of lies" claims it used chemical weapons
after the US said it would give the rebels "direct military aid".
President
Obama made the decision after his administration concluded Syrian
forces under Bashar al-Assad were using chemical weapons, a spokesman
said.A rebel leader, Salim Idris, told the BBC it was a "very important step".
But Syria's foreign ministry said the US had used "fabricated information" on chemical weapons to justify the move.
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“Start Quote
End Quote Ben Rhodes US Deputy National Security AdviserThe President has said that the use of chemical weapons would change his calculus, and it has”
Washington
was resorting to "cheap tactics" to justify Mr Obama's decision to arm
the rebels, said a statement from the ministry.
On the ground, there were reports of the fiercest fighting in months in Syria's largest city, Aleppo.Two years of conflict had killed at least 93,000 people, the UN said on Thursday, at a current rate of 5,000 people a month. More than 1,700 children under the age of 10 have died, it added.
CIA training? Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to Mr Obama, said the president had made the decision to increase assistance, including "military support", to the rebels' Supreme Military Council (SMC) and Syrian Opposition Coalition.
The US was "comfortable" working with Gen Idris, leader of the SMC, and aimed to isolate some of the more extremist elements of the opposition, such as Sunni militant group al-Nusra, he added.
Mr Rhodes did not give details about the military aid other than to say it would be "different in scope and scale to what we have provided before".
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Initially US support looks
likely to involve the supply of light arms and ammunition. Mr Rhodes
says that the President has not made any decision to pursue a military
option, like a no-fly zone, and he has ruled out the deployment of US
ground troops. Requests from the opposition for anti-tank and
anti-aircraft weapons are, we understand, still a matter of discussion.
Thus the US response to President Assad's apparent crossing of a "red line" seems tentative at best. As ever it raises more questions than answers.
Analysis
Thus the US response to President Assad's apparent crossing of a "red line" seems tentative at best. As ever it raises more questions than answers.
Until now, the US has limited its help to rebel forces by providing rations and medical supplies.
Administration
officials have been quoted by US media as saying it will most likely
include sending small arms and ammunition. The New York Times quoted US
officials as saying Washington could provide anti-tank weapons.The CIA is expected to co-ordinate delivery of the military equipment and train the rebel soldiers in how to use it, reports said.
Republican Senator John McCain, who has been outspoken in calls for arming the rebels, said he did not know to which type of arms the term "military aid" referred, but that he hoped for anti-tank weapons.
He said his greatest concern was the conflict "spiralling out of control because of a failure of American leadership", with violence spreading into a wider conflict of Sunni versus Shia and even the US versus Russia.
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"One cannot but notice the unusual, not to say strange, format of the statement. First, it was a telephone conference. Second, Mr [Ben] Rhodes is a deputy national security adviser for strategic communications for the US president; he is of course across the subject, but his rank is rather low for such strong statements."
Rossiya 1 TV:
"One is instantly reminded of the well-known story with the vial with crushed chalk that Colin Powell presented as evidence of chemical weapons in Iraq. It is also interesting that the White House's statement came after Syrian rebels began suffering one defeat after another."
Russian media response
State-controlled Channel One:"One cannot but notice the unusual, not to say strange, format of the statement. First, it was a telephone conference. Second, Mr [Ben] Rhodes is a deputy national security adviser for strategic communications for the US president; he is of course across the subject, but his rank is rather low for such strong statements."
Rossiya 1 TV:
"One is instantly reminded of the well-known story with the vial with crushed chalk that Colin Powell presented as evidence of chemical weapons in Iraq. It is also interesting that the White House's statement came after Syrian rebels began suffering one defeat after another."
In
an interview with the BBC's Newshour programme on Friday, Gen Idris
said the supply of weapons would help the rebels defeat the Assad
regime and defend civilians.
"We are in most need for
anti tank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles and in addition to all of
that we need a huge amount of weapons and ammunition to stop the
offensive of the regime," he added.'Not convincing' The US intelligence community believes the Assad regime had used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the past year, said Mr Rhodes, adding that he estimated as many as 150 people had died in the attacks.
Washington's "clear" statement was welcomed by Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who urged Syria to let the UN "investigate all reports of chemical weapons use".
The US announcement is one the Syrian opposition has been pushing and praying for for months, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.
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“Start Quote
End QuoteMr Obama increasingly finds himself pushed towards acting”
It
seems clear Mr Obama has finally been persuaded, as Britain and France
have argued, that the battlefield cannot be allowed to tilt strongly in
the regime's favour, as is currently happening, says our correspondent.
British
Foreign Secretary William Hague said the UK agreed with Washington's
assessment and said an urgent response to the Syria crisis would be
discussed at the G8 summit of economic powers in Northern Ireland next
week.Moscow said Washington's supposed evidence of chemical weapons use in Syria did "not look convincing".
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman told the BBC he remained against "any further militarisation" of the conflict in Syria, saying the people there needed peace, not more weapons.
The support of the West's regional allies, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, had helped the rebels in the days after the uprising became militarised.
But the tide turned after the Assad regime turned to Moscow and Tehran for help. Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon have also been involved in the government's counter-offensive.
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