US to give military support to Syrian rebels as ‘red line’ crossed

June 14th, 2013

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

After concluding that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against the country’s insurgency, thus crossing a ‘red line,’ the Obama administration has decided to start sending arms to anti-Assad rebels for the first time since, officials say.

An internal memorandum circulating within the Obama
administration has assessed that chemical weapons, most likely
the nerve gas sarin, were used multiple times in battle against
the Syrian rebels.

The “intelligence community assesses that the Assad regime has
used chemical weapons on a small scale against the opposition
multiple times in the last year,” according to that memo, as
cited by The New York Times.

President Obama has authorized to release of at least some US
arms for Syria’s rebels as part of new military and political aid
measures, according to a source who spoke with Reuters.

White House officials speculated over evidence that nerve gas had
been used as of April, but that evidence is now being called
“definitive” – with Congressional sources describing the
conclusion as crossing the “red line” for US military
intervention or backing as previously defined by the
president.

“The president has made a decision about providing more
support to the opposition, that will involve providing direct
support to the (Supreme Military Council), that includes military
support,” Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes told
reporters on a conference call on Thursday.

“This is going to be different in both scope and scale in
terms of what we are providing to the SMC than what we have
provided before,” he adds.

Originally conceived as a pesticide, sarin was used by Iraqi
dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime to gas thousands of Kurds in
the northern town of Halabja in 1988.

Sarin can be inhaled or absorbed through skin, and it kills
by crippling the nervous system and paralyzing muscles around
the lungs.

In addition to airborne release, the gas can also be used to
contaminate food or water supplies. As a gas, it can linger
in an area for up to six hours.

Sarin inhalation can cause death within a few minutes in high
doses, and permanent harm includes damage to the lungs, eyes
and central nervous system.

According to officials who spoke with the Wall Street Journal on
Thursday, the US military is currently considering a proposal for
arming factions of the Syrian insurgency – as well as
establishing a limited no-fly zone over the country to be
enforced from nearby Jordanian territory.

That no-fly zone could stretch for up to 25 miles into Syrian
territory, and would be set up in a bid to train and equip rebel
forces and protect refugees, officials said.

A no-fly zone would not require the destruction of Syrian
antiaircraft batteries, according to the accounts cited in
American media. The White House could alternatively authorize the
arming and training of the Syrian opposition in Jordan without a
no-fly zone.

Congress was being notified of the conclusions over chemical
weapons use in the country on Thursday in classified documents.
Findings were corroborated by evidence sent to the US by France,
which along with the UK claimed that Assad’s forces had used
chemical weapons.

“There is a growing body persuasive evidence showing that the
regime used – and continues to use – chemical weapons, including
sarin,” a spokesman for Britain’s Foreign Office said
Thursday.

“The room for doubt continues to diminish. Assad must grant
the UN investigation unrestricted access to investigate on the
ground in Syria and establish the full facts,” he added.

In a conference call to reporters on Thursday, the White House
said that the intelligence community estimates that as many as
150 people, or about 0.16 per cent (0.0016) of the 93,000
reported deaths in the Syrian conflict, could have been a result
of chemical weapons used by pro-Assad forces.

The White House said during the same call that the US “will
make decisions on our own timeline” regarding the next steps
on Syria. President Obama will consult with G8 partners,
including Russia, about Syria next week.

Republican senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham called on the
US to provide “lethal assistance, especially ammunition &
heavy weapons” to Syria’s rebels on Thursday.

“The President must rally an international coalition to take
military actions to degrade Assad’s ability to use airpower and
ballistic missiles and to move and resupply his forces around the
battlefield by air,” said a joint statement by the pair.

As a UN probe was underway into allegations of chemical weapons
use in May, lead investigator Carla Del Ponte said the findings
showed that rebels were behind at least one chemical weapons
attack. “This was used on the part of the opposition, the
rebels, not by the government authorities,” Del Ponte told
Swiss TV.

Source Article from http://rt.com/news/us-claims-assad-chemical-weapons-671/