CIA and U.S. military operatives have been secretly teaching Syrian
rebels how to use anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, the Los Angeles
Times has learned. The White House refuses to confirm but says
'substantial assistance' is being provided.
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Damaged buildings in Aleppo, Syria, where government warplanes bombed rebel positions in fighting over a nearby military base. (Aleppo Media Center / Associated Press / June 18, 2013) |
WASHINGTON — White House officials refused to comment Friday on a Los Angeles Times report that CIA
operatives and U.S. special operations troops have been secretly
training Syrian rebels with anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons since
late last year, saying only that the U.S. had increased its assistance
to the rebellion.
The covert U.S. training at bases in Jordan and Turkey began months before President Obama approved plans to begin directly arming the opposition to Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to U.S. officials and rebel commanders.
“We have stepped up our assistance, but I cannot inventory for you
all the elements of that assistance,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney
said. “We have provided and will continue to provide substantial
assistance to the Syrian opposition, as well as the Supreme Military
Council.”
The Supreme Military Council
is the military arm of an umbrella group that represents more moderate
rebel factions, including the Free Syrian Army.
The training and Obama’s decision this month to supply arms and
ammunition to the rebels have raised hope among the beleaguered
opposition that Washington ultimately will provide heavier weapons as
well. So far, the rebels say they lack the weapons they need to regain
the offensive in Syria’s bitter civil war.
The tightly constrained U.S. effort reflects Obama’s continuing
doubts about getting drawn into a conflict that already has killed more
than 100,000 people and the administration’s fear that Islamic militants
now leading the war against Assad could gain control of advanced U.S.
weaponry.
The training has involved fighters from the Free Syrian Army,
a loose confederation of rebel groups that the Obama administration has
promised to back with expanded military assistance, said a U.S.
official, who discussed the effort anonymously because he was not
authorized to disclose details.
The number of rebels given U.S.
instruction in both countries since the program began could not be
determined, but in Jordan, the training involves 20 to 45 insurgents at a
time, a rebel commander said.
U.S. special operations teams selected the trainees over the last year when the U.S. military set up regional supply lines to provide the rebels with nonlethal assistance, including uniforms, radios and medical aid.
The
two-week courses include training with Russian-designed 14.5-millimeter
anti-tank rifles, anti-tank missiles, as well as 23-millimeter
anti-aircraft weapons, according to a rebel commander in the Syrian
province of Dara who helps oversee weapons acquisitions and who asked
his name not be used because the program is secret.
The training
began last November at a new American base in the desert in southwest
Jordan, he said. So far, about 100 rebels from Dara have attended four
courses, while rebels from Damascus have attended three courses, he
said.
“Those from the CIA, we would sit and talk with them during
breaks from training and afterward, they would try to get information
on the situation inside Syria," he said.
The rebels were promised
enough armor-piercing anti-tank weapons and other arms to gain a
military advantage over Assad’s better-equipped army and security
forces, said the Dara commander.
But arms shipments from Qatar, Saudi Arabia
and other Arab countries, provided with assent from the Americans, took
months to arrive and included less than the rebels had expected.
Since last year, the weapons sent through the Dara military council have included four or five Russian-made heavy Concourse
anti-tank missiles, 18 14.5-millimeter guns mounted on the backs of
pickup trucks and 30 82-millimeter recoilless rifles. The weapons are
all Soviet or Russian models but manufactured in other countries, he
said.
“I’m telling you, this amount of weapons, once they are
spread across the province [of Dara] is considered nothing,” the rebel
commander said. “We need more than this to tip the balance or for there
to even be a balance of power.”
U.S. officials said the Obama
administration and its allies may supply anti-tank weapons to help the
rebels destroy armored vehicles used by Assad forces. They are less
likely to provide portable anti-aircraft missiles, which the rebels say
they need to eliminate Assad’s warplanes. U.S. officials fear those
missiles would fall into the hands of the Al Nusra front, the largest of
the Islamist militias in the rebel coalition, which the U.S. regards as
an Al Qaeda ally.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry is heading to
Qatar on Saturday and will talk with other governments backing the
rebels. A senior State Department official told reporters Friday that the talks would include discussions about coordinating deliveries of military aid.
CIA and White House
officials declined to comment on the secret training programs. Other
U.S. officials confirmed the training, but disputed some of the specific
details provided by rebel commanders.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Bittar,
who defected as a fighter pilot from Assad’s air force last year and is
now head of intelligence for the Free Syrian Army, said training for the
last month or so has taken place in Jordan.
The training,
conducted by American, Jordanian and French operatives, involves rockets
and anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry, he said.
Between 80
and 100 rebels from all over Syria have gone through the courses in the
last month, he said, but training is continuing. Graduates are sent back
across the border to rejoin the battle.
Bittar complained that
sufficient weapons had yet to arrive for the rebel forces and said the
Americans have not yet told them when they can expect to receive
additional arms.
“Just promises, just promises,” he said.
Cloud reported from Washington and Abdulrahim reported from Los Angeles.
Source: L.A.Times
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