Changing Syria: US to decide whether to arm Syrian rebels

The Syrian war has largely been ongoing with Washington taking serious caution, probably because it is an Obama not a Bush. The intervention in Libya which led to massive NATO bombardment in the guise of protecting civilians has also not helped matters.

The Libyan no-fly zone turned to songs of regime change barely some weeks after it was endorsed by the UN and France launched its first strike. In the case of Syria, Britain has been the front-runner in likely decisions to arm the rebels. Just as France was able to mount pressure on Washington in Libya, the pressure of Britain could soon play out to her favour too.

Washington may decide as early as this week on whether to arm Syrian rebels, a US official said on Monday. The question of whether to arm the rebels is on the agenda for White House meetings for the early part of this week, Reuters reported. US Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly delayed a planned trip to the Middle East in order to attend the meetings in Washington. This is coming at a time when the Syrian government is coasting closer to victory; first by winning Qusayr and now pounding Aleppo to wrestle it from the control of rebels.

Obama had earlier said the use of chemical weapons in Syria will amount to crossing the 'red line'. After this was fervently tied around his neck for him to act when allegations of such weapons' usage were leveled against the government of Assad, Obama said allegations must be corroborated by pure evidence and facts must be duly established.

Russia has acted to prove another Libya will not be possible. It is consistently ready to bolster the military capabilities of Bashar al Assad's Syria with the latest move being the shipment of S-300 missile batteries which Moscow says is to prevent 'hotheads' from entering into conflict and deter those who want to escalate the crisis.

Israeli Airstrike aims at Weakening Syria's Military Research: A call for Hezbollah

Though Israel has not yet claimed responsibility for an airstrike targeting a military site near Damascus, experts believe that Tel Aviv aimed to further destabilize Syria and undermine its military capabilities.

Initial reports suggested that Israel conducted an airstrike on a convoy carrying sophisticated weapons that was preparing to cross the Syria-Lebanon border. Israeli officials said the vehicles may have contained chemical weapons and Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“This episode boils down to a warning by Israel to Syria and Hezbollah not to engage in the transfer of sensitive weapons,” a regional security source told Reuters.

But the latest reports from Syria suggest that the airstrike hit the Jamraya research center in the suburbs of Damascus, far from the Lebanese border. An anonymous diplomatic source told Reuters that chemical weapons may be stored at the center, and that the vehicles in Hezbollah convoy were unlikely to be carrying such arms.

Israeli officials have not commented on the airstrike, but the assault may have revealed Tel Aviv’s plans, experts believe. After months of sustained rebel assaults on Syrian air defense systems and bases, the Israeli airstrike follows a pattern of other recent attempts to undermine Syria’s military capabilities.

Israeli officials have frequently expressed fears that Syrian President Bashar Assad will lose control of the country’s chemical weapons stockpiles. But Dr. Ali Mohamad, editor-in-chief of the Syria Tribune news website, believes the fears of chemical weapons was a pretext to destroy Syria's military research centers and ensure that Damascus is unable to produce arms for its military or regional allies.

Syrians know that “this is not at all about chemical weapons,” Dr. Mohamad told RT. “It’s about stopping the Syrian scientists’ military research projects.”

“It finally makes sense because the rebels or as they like to call themselves the revolutionaries, they have been attacking air defense bases near Damascus for the past seven months,” Dr. Mohamad said. “They’ve managed to attack the S-200 base and over four other surface-to-air missile bases.

Now this followed by an airstrike from Israel. So it all adds up, it makes sense. It only shows that Israel has a great interest in the instability in Syria and that it is being helped by groups of armed rebels in Syria.”

“Military research centers are responsible for developing weapons, in particular land-to-land long range missiles,” and Israel wants to stop this research process, Dr. Mohamed explained. “Of course Israel will claim that this is connected to a chemical weapons arsenal, but this is of course not true because nobody stores chemical weapons in a research center.”

“Let’s remember that the Syrian official who was responsible for all military research projects has been assassinated in Damascus by the rebels,” he said. “Let’s also remember that the person who orchestrated the Syrian long-range missile project colonel Dawoud Rajiha was also assassinated in Damascus.

This is about stopping the Syrian scientific military research projects and is about breaking the link that will help [Israel] overcome the Lebanese resistance and the Palestinian resistance.”

Syria will likely retaliate, but not in the form of a direct attack on Israel. Instead, Damascus will seek to arm Hezbollah, the Lebanese resistance, Dr. Mohamed said.

Hezbollah also stated that the attack targeted a Syrian research center and was an attempt to cripple Syrian military capabilities. It declared its full solidarity for Syria’s “leadership, army and people” in a statement.