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14Jun13

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Syrian Army Steps Up Assault on Rebel Forces in Aleppo

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Clashes that antigovernment activists described as the heaviest in months erupted on the edge of a rebel-controlled neighborhood in Syria's largest city on Friday while opposition activists debated how the United States' decision to send arms would affect their fight to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

The Obama administration announced on Thursday that Mr. Assad's troops had used chemical weapons and that the United States would send small arms and ammunition to rebel fighters for the first time.

Rebels gathered in an apartment near one of the front lines that divide Aleppo, Syria's largest city, were surprised by the Obama administration's announcement and focused on a question asked by many in Syria's beleaguered opposition: Would the promised aid really help the rebels or would it be too little, too late, as government forces continue to make gains and consolidate control.

An older rebel who leads a few dozen fighters on one of the front lines in Aleppo was skeptical. "I'll believe that America is helping us when I see American arms in my group's hands, not statements and food baskets," said the fighter, Abu Zaki, 40.

American officials said the military aid would be coordinated by the Central Intelligence Agency and could include antitank weapons. It would not, however, include the antiaircraft weapons that rebel leaders have long said they need to challenge Mr. Assad's air force.

Gen. Salim Idris, the head of the military wing of Syria's Western-backed opposition, said that the new weapons would boost his fighters' morale after a string of recent losses to Mr. Assad's forces and their allies in Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group. He said he also hoped new weapons would help his fighters take a more aggressive role for the opposition, whose forces are now dominated by radical Islamists aligned with Al Qaeda.

"We hope to have the weapons and ammunition we need in a few weeks," he said in an interview with the television news channel Al Arabiya.

Mr. Assad's government denied that it had used chemical weapons and lashed out at the American decision to arm the rebels. "While seeking banal means to justify the U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to arm the Syrian opposition, the U.S. is practicing a flagrant double standard policy in dealing with terrorism," the statement read.

Much remained unclear about the American aid, including the number that it would involve, when the weapons would arrive and how they would be distributed. For at least some of those in Aleppo, worried about the approach of government forces, the announcement was good news. Although many said it was not nearly everything the rebels need, it was a step.

"Now we can say Americans are our real friends, and we will not forget their position and help to finish the Assad regime," said an activist named Abdel-Qader, 30.

The Obama administration had been hesitant about sending military aid, saying that it would inflame the conflict and that the weapons could fall into the hands of extremists who have risen in the rebel ranks.

Those calculations appear to have shifted after the administration concluded that Syrian government forces had used chemical weapons -- a move that President Obama had called a "red line."

A White House official said Thursday that Mr. Assad's military had used chemical weapons "on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year." It is believed that 100 to 150 people have died in the attacks, the announcement said, but officials cautioned that the number could be higher.

The American calculations have also been influenced by the overt role played by Hezbollah fighters in the government's recent rout of rebel forces in Qusayr on the Syrian-Lebanese border. Intervention by Hezbollah and continued arms shipments to government forces by Russia and Iran have raised fears that the anti-Assad insurgency could collapse.

Military gains by Mr. Assad's forces could improve his bargaining position at an international conference -- approved by the United States and Russia -- that is scheduled to take place in Geneva this month. It is not clear that the meeting, which is intended to negotiate an end to the conflict, would actually proceed.

Since the fall of Qusayr, antigovernment activists have reported government troop movements toward Aleppo, which remains roughly divided between the rebel and government forces, with front lines snaking in between.

Friday's fighting was the fiercest near the rebel-held neighborhood of Sakhour in eastern Aleppo, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of contacts inside Syria for information.

Government forces bombarded the area with missiles and tank shells for several hours before sending in ground troops from two directions in an attempt to gain control over the strategically important roadways that cut through the area, witnesses said.

It was unclear if the assault was successful. Some rebel fighters in the city suggested that it was designed as much to make a show of strength as it was to actually seize territory.

Abu Louay, an activist in Aleppo, said that the rebels were preparing for heavy fighting near the airport to the city's southeast.

Aleppo, which is near the Turkish border, is Syria's largest city and before the war was a hub of commerce, prized for both its beauty and ancient treasures.

As the rebellion grew after the government's bloody crackdown against largely peaceful protesters in March 2011, Aleppo was at first spared the worst of the violence. But in July 2012, rebels stormed the city, and after months of battles established control in many areas. The strategic victory came at a great cost, reducing neighborhoods to rubble and leaving scores dead or wounded.

As the fighting has worn on, residents who have remained in the city have suffered from shortages of oil, food, medicine, doctors and gas.

In all, more than 90,000 people have been killed in fighting across the country, according to a United Nations report released on Thursday.

[Source: By Ben Hubbard, The New York Times, Cairo, 14Jun13]

Syria War

This document has been published on 17Jun13 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.