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| Obama approves sending weapons to Syrian rebels |
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.jpg) U.S. President Barack Obama has authorized sending weapons to foreign-backed militants fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, U.S. officials said Thursday.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the strongest proponents of U.S. military action in Syria, said he was told on Thursday that Obama had decided to "provide arms to the rebels," a decision confirmed by three U.S. officials, The Associated Press reported.
The officials cautioned that decisions on the specific type of weaponry were still being finalized, though the CIA was expected to be tasked with teaching the rebels how to use the arms the White House had agreed to supply.
"This is going to be different in both scope and scale in terms of what we are providing," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser.
Earlier in the day, the White House claimed that the United States has conclusive evidence the Syrian government used chemical weapons against foreign-backed militants.
On Friday, the Syrian government dismissed U.S. charges that it used chemical weapons as "full of lies," accusing Obama of resorting to fabrications to justify his decision to arm Syrian rebels.
The U.S. decision to begin arming the militants, though details have not been completed, marks a deepening of U.S. involvement in Syria's two-year crisis.
It comes as the Syrian forces have been scoring victories, driving rebels out of a key town near the Lebanese border and launching offensives in the center and north, targeting Aleppo, the nation's largest city.
U.S. officials said the administration could provide the rebel fighters with a range of weapons, including small arms, ammunition, assault rifles and a variety of anti-tank weaponry such as shoulder-fired rocket-propelled grenades and other missiles. However, no final decisions have been made on the type of weaponry or when it would reach the rebels, according to the officials, who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss internal administration discussions with reporters.
In addition to the increased military aid, the U.S. also announced Thursday it had conclusive evidence that the Syrian army has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against opposition forces. The White House said multiple chemical attacks last year killed up to 150 people.
Obama has said the use of chemical weapons cross a "red line," triggering greater U.S involvement in the crisis.
"The White House has issued a statement full of lies about the use of chemical weapons in Syria, based on fabricated information," a statement issued on Friday by the Syrian Foreign Ministry said. "The United States is using cheap tactics to justify President Barack Obama's decision to arm the Syrian opposition," it said.
The statement also accused the U.S. of "double standards," saying America claims to combat terrorism while providing support for "terrorist" groups in Syria, such as Jabhat al-Nusra, with arms and money. The group, also known as the Nusra Front, is an al-Qaeda affiliate.
The commander of the main Western-backed rebel group fighting in Syria said he hoped that U.S. weapons will be in the hands of rebels in the near future, noting it would boost the spirits of the fighters on the ground.
"We hope to have the weapons and ammunition that we need in the near future," Gen. Salim Idris told Al-Arabiya TV.
At least 93,000 people have been killed in the foreign-sponsored militancy that started against the government, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Thursday.
She said that since last July more than 5,000 people have fallen victim to the violence every month.
The figure covers the period between March 2011 and the end of April 2013, the UN's top human rights official said, adding that the real number of the fatalities is potentially much higher.
Of the 6,561 minors who lost their lives in the conflict, more than 1,729 were children under 10 years old, Pillay said.
The previous UN figure, released in January, said nearly 60,000 people had been killed in the conflict.
The Syrian crisis began in March 2011. Damascus says the West and its regional allies, such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, are supporting the militants.
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