12 Sep 2013 – <\/i>The CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria, ending months of delay in lethal aid that had been promised by the Obama administration, according to U.S. officials and Syrian figures. The shipments began streaming into the country over the past two weeks, along with separate deliveries by the State Department of vehicles and other gear \u2014 a flow of material that marks a major escalation of the U.S. role in Syria\u2019s civil war.<\/p>\n
The arms shipments, which are limited to light weapons and other munitions that can be tracked, began arriving in Syria at a moment of heightened tensions over threats by President Obama to order missile strikes to punish the regime of Bashar al-Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons in a deadly attack near Damascus last month.<\/p>\n
The arms are being delivered as the United States is also shipping new types of nonlethal gear to rebels. That aid includes vehicles, sophisticated communications equipment and advanced combat medical kits.<\/p>\n
U.S. officials hope that, taken together, the weapons and gear will boost the profile and prowess of rebel fighters in a conflict that started about 21<\/sup> \/ 2 <\/sub>years ago.<\/p>\n Although the Obama administration signaled months ago that it would increase aid to Syrian rebels, the efforts have lagged because of the logistical challenges involved in delivering equipment in a war zone and officials\u2019 fears that any assistance could wind up in the hands of jihadists. Secretary of State John F. Kerry had promised in April<\/a> that the nonlethal aid would start flowing \u201cin a matter of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n The delays prompted several senior U.S. lawmakers to chide the Obama administration for not moving more quickly to aid the Syrian opposition after promising lethal assistance in June. The criticism has grown louder amid the debate over whether Washington should use military force against the Syrian regime, with some lawmakers withholding support until the administration committed to providing the rebels with more assistance.<\/p>\n Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who has pressed the Obama administration to do more to help the rebels, said he felt embarrassed when he met with Syrians along the Turkish border three weeks ago.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was humiliating,\u201d he said in an interview Wednesday night. \u201cThe president had announced that we would be providing lethal aid, and not a drop of it had begun. They were very short on ammunition, and the weapons had not begun to flow.\u201d<\/p>\n The latest effort to provide aid is aimed at supporting rebel fighters who are under the command of Gen. Salim Idriss, according to officials, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because part of the initiative is covert. Idriss is the commander of the Supreme Military Council, a faction of the disjointed armed opposition.<\/p>\n U.S. officials, speaking about the provision of nonlethal aid, said they are determined to increase the cohesion and structure of the rebel fighting units.<\/p>\n \u201cThis doesn\u2019t only lead to a more effective force, but it increases its ability to hold coalition groups together,\u201d said Mark S. Ward, the State Department\u2019s senior adviser on assistance to Syria, who coordinates nonlethal aid to rebels from southern Turkey. \u201cThey see their leadership is having some impact.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. officials decided to expand nonlethal assistance to Syria\u2019s armed rebels after they delivered more than 350,000 high-calorie U.S. military food packets through the Supreme Military Council in May. The distribution gave U.S. officials confidence that it was possible to limit aid to select rebel units in a battlefield where thousands of fighters share al-Qaeda\u2019s ideology, U.S. officials said.<\/p>\n Khaled Saleh, a spokesman for the Syrian Opposition Coalition, said Washington\u2019s revamped efforts are welcome but insufficient to turn the tide of the civil war between rebels and forces loyal to Assad.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Syrian Military Council is receiving so little support that any support we receive is a relief,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you compare what we are getting compared to the assistance Assad receives from Iran and Russia, we have a long battle ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s better than nothing\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n While the State Department is coordinating nonlethal aid, the CIA is overseeing the delivery of weaponry and other lethal equipment to the rebels. An opposition official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss covert arms transfers, said U.S. intelligence personnel have begun delivering long-promised light weapons and ammunition to rebel groups in the past couple of weeks.<\/p>\n The weaponry \u201cdoesn\u2019t solve all the needs the guys have, but it\u2019s better than nothing,\u201d the opposition official said. He added that Washington remains reluctant to give the rebels what they most desire: antitank and antiaircraft weapons.<\/p>\n The CIA shipments are to flow through a network of clandestine bases in Turkey and Jordan that were expanded over the past year as the agency sought to help Middle Eastern allies, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, direct weapons to moderate Syrian rebel forces.<\/p>\n The CIA declined to comment.<\/p>\n The distribution of vehicles and communications equipment is part of an effort to direct U.S. aid to Syrian rebels in a more assertive, targeted manner. Before Ward established a team of about two dozen diplomats and aid workers in southern Turkey, Washington was doing little more than paying for truckloads of food and medicine for Syrian rebels. U.S. officials concede that the shipments often went to the most accessible, and not necessarily the neediest, places.<\/p>\n Boosting moderate factions<\/b><\/p>\n In addition to boosting support for rebels under the command of Idriss, who speaks fluent English and taught at a military academy<\/a> before defecting from the Syrian army last year, U.S. officials in southern Turkey are using aid to promote emerging moderate leaders in towns and villages in rebel-held areas. Across much of the north, Syrians have begun electing local councils and attempting to rebuild communities devastated by war.<\/p>\n Ward\u2019s team \u2014 working primarily out of hotel lobbies \u2014 has spent the past few months studying the demographics and dynamics of communities where extremists are making inroads. Targeted U.S. aid, he said, can be used to empower emerging local leaders who are moderate and to jump-start basic services while dimming the appeal of extremists.<\/p>\n