White House: Assad 'one of worst tyrants of his era'

Jay Carney

History will record Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as "one of the worst tyrants of his era," says White House spokesman Jay Carney.

The United States and other allies will maintain their support to the opposition, stressing Assad would be removed from power eventually, Carney said Tuesday during a media briefing.

I excerpted from the briefing all the Qs and As on Syria:

Q. Now that the deadlock has been broken in getting Syrian rebels the weapons, how quickly do you expect the weapons to get there?  What impact do you expect them to have?  Is there still time to stop Assad, who seems to be winning at this point?

CARNEY:  There is no question that Assad, with the support of Hezbollah and Iran, is continuing to wage a brutal assault on the Syrian people.  And because of the support he’s gotten from other bad actors in the region, that assault has intensified.  And that is why it is so important that the United States and our allies and our partners provide the assistance that the opposition needs to strengthen itself and so that it can withstand the Assad forces and the Hezbollah and Iranian-backed forces.

As I said all along, conversations with Congress, especially ones that are behind closed doors, I'm just not going to get into.  And I'm not going to catalogue or detail all of the assistance that we're providing the Syrian opposition.  But we have been providing assistance to the Syrian opposition and to the Syrian military council, and we will continue to.  And the President, as he made clear not long ago, is committed to ramping up that assistance as necessary because of the circumstances that we find, and because of the need for the opposition to further strengthen and unify.

Q. But are there any concerns that it’s coming too late, that Assad may just win the thing?

CARNEY:  Well, as I said the other day, Assad will never control Syria again, will never rule Syria again.  And it is our firm position that the Syrian people will not allow, and we will not abide Assad as leader of Syria into the future.  The transition has to be a post-Assad transition.  And that is what we're working towards with the opposition, with our allies and partners in the region to help bring about that day when we can have a transition in place that can begin to rebuild Syria, that will bring about an end to the horror and the bloodshed, and can create an opportunity to transition to a government that is responsive to the will of the Syrian people.

Q. …Administration officials have said the purpose of providing some assistance to rebels in Syria is to keep them alive and to keep them hanging on.  Why would we help them do anything short of topple Assad?

CARNEY:  I'm not sure whom you're quoting.  But the fact of the matter is the Syrian opposition needs the assistance that we're providing, and which many of our partners and allies are providing, in order to strengthen the cohesion of the opposition and to improve their circumstances as they deal with the assault that's being waged upon them by Assad’s forces.

And there is no way out of this that doesn’t include a transition to a post-Assad Syria.  And the Syrian people will not stand for it, and the Syrian opposition and the military opposition will continue to resist Assad, and resist with the assistance of the United States and many partners and allies in the effort.

Bashar al-Assad will now go down in history as one of the worst tyrants of his era and with just a terrible amount of blood on his hands, the blood of his own people.  And that is why we have pursued the policy that we are pursuing and why we believe it's essential to continue to provide assistance to the opposition, assistance to the military council, and humanitarian assistance to the many displaced Syrians who are suffering tremendously because of this conflict.

Q. Is the administration at a place where you'd see this as a slow bleed? 

CARNEY:  Look, I think that it's a challenging situation in Syria, which is why we have to provide this assistance.  If you're asking me do we believe that Assad will prevail, the answer is no, he will not -- and not because we say so, but because the Syrian people will not stand for it.

Q. But you're also acknowledging this isn't going to make him go.

CARNEY:  No, I didn't say that.  I’m not acknowledging -- I have no crystal ball here to predict when Assad will go.  But I have no doubt, and we have no doubt, that the Syrian people will not --

Q. I guess I'm asking, is the aid intended for the purpose of toppling him?

CARNEY:  The aid is intended to assist the opposition in its effort to resist Assad and to ultimately prevail over Assad and his forces. 

Q. Are you suggesting that the arms to the Syrian opposition will be decisive?

CARNEY:  I think I just answered that.  I can’t predict into the future.  I think the assistance the Syrian opposition is receiving comes from the United States as well as many other places, and that that assistance is provided and designed to assist the -- or help the opposition in its efforts against the horrific war being waged on the Syrian people by the Assad regime. We obviously support the Syrian opposition and support their efforts to combat Assad militarily, because that is necessary as we move to a point where a political transition can take place.  And the brutality being engaged in by the Assad regime needs to be countered.  And we are providing assistance for the Syrian opposition in their efforts to do that.


Q. If it not decisive, is it understood by those in Congress you’ve been working with that it will escalate in order to bring about the inevitability of this --


CARNEY:  Again, I can’t predict.  The President has made clear that we have significantly –


Q. I know you can’t predict the outcome.  But if it’s not decisive, will it escalate?


CARNEY:  Well, again, I can’t predict, but I can note and deduce from the way that we have steadily increased our assistance to the Syrian opposition, as that opposition has become more unified and strengthened, that the President’s commitment will continue.  And he believes we need to continue to step up our assistance because of the imperative that Assad not be allowed to essentially murder an entire nation.


Q. We are in this until he falls, in other words?

CARNEY:  Well, I think that the opposition -- it’s not us.  We’re not alone here.  We are supporting an opposition here, and we are supporting an opposition, together with many allies and partners who cannot abide what Assad has done in his country and to his people.  There is broad international consensus with a very short list of holdouts when it comes to opposing Assad and insisting on his departure from the scene. Unfortunately, those holdouts have prevented the passage of United Nations Security Council resolutions, but they have not prevented us from working with other partners and allies in providing assistance to the Syrian opposition.

Q. …You’ve said Assad will never rule Syria again, that he will not prevail.  What is giving you that confidence?  Because it seems like right now he does have the upper hand.

CARNEY:  Well, I took that question moments ago, and I would simply say that Assad has waged a bloody war against his own people.  And it is for the Syrian --

Q. But I mean, what proof do you have?

CARNEY:  Proof of what?  Does Assad rule Russia?  I mean, does Assad rule Syria right now?  And will --

Q. But he seems to have the upper hand.

CARNEY:  Well, I’m not sure.  There are ebbs and flows in conflicts like this.  There is no question that with the assistance of Iran and Hezbollah, a couple of very bad actors -- notable friends, you might say, friends that say a lot about Assad in a situation like this -- he has inflicted even more harm on the Syrian people.  And for that reason and others, it’s incumbent upon the United States and friends and allies who support the Syrian people in their battle against Bashar al-Assad to provide the assistance and the stepped-up assistance that we’re providing. 

But the reason why I’m confident is because the Syrian people will not allow it, and they’ve made that clear.

U.S. to arm Syria rebels, set no-fly zone near Jordan

Hot on the heels of U.S. President Barack Obama’s push into Syria, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz is said to have cut short his private visit to Morocco to return to the kingdom overnight.

The monarch and his entourage have already left Morocco, according to Naharnet news portal.

The news follows reports of the Saudi military command ordering an “above normal defense readiness” at the kingdom’s largest air force base in Tabouk, close to the Jordan-Saudi border.

Observers associate the developments to the Syria war.

Two senior Western diplomats in Turkey told Reuters today the United States is studying setting up a limited no-fly zone in Syria close to the southern border with Jordan.

Their comments, confirmed by a third regional diplomat, came after the White House said overnight it would step up military assistance to rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad in response to proof of chemical weapons use by Assad forces.

"Washington is considering a no-fly zone to help Assad's opponents," one diplomat told Reuters. He said it would be limited "time-wise and area-wise, possibly near the Jordanian border," without giving details.

U.S. military planners, responding to a request by the White House to develop options for Syria, recommended the limited no-fly zone along the Syrian border to protect rebels and refugees inside Jordan.

The plan, according to the Wall Street Journal, would create what one official called a "no fighting zone" that would stretch up to 25 miles into Syrian territory along the Jordanian border, preventing Assad forces from launching attacks against the rebels and refugees and protecting U.S. personnel involved in distributing weapons and providing training.

Under this plan, the U.S. and its allies would enforce the zone using aircraft flown from Jordanian bases and flying inside the kingdom, according to U.S. officials.

Jordan has been inundated by a flood of refugees Jordanian and U.S. officials say is a growing threat to the kingdom, a key U.S. ally in the region.

The U.S. has already moved Patriot air defense batteries and F-16 fighter planes to Jordan, which could be integral to any no-fly zone if President Obama approves the military proposal.

Proponents of the proposal think a no-fly zone could be imposed without a UN Security Council resolution, since the U.S. would not regularly enter Syrian airspace and wouldn't hold Syrian territory.

U.S. warplanes have air-to-air missiles that could destroy Syrian planes from long ranges.

The U.S. is to supply direct military aid to the Syrian opposition for the first time, the White House announced overnight.

Ben Rhodes, spokesman for President Obama, did not give details about the military aid other than to say it would be "different in scope and scale to what we have provided before".

He said, "I can't go through an inventory of the type of assistance we are providing but suffice to say it's going to be substantively different from what we were providing."

The U.S. had warned any use of chemical weapons would cross a "red line.”

The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says the White House announcement is one the Syrian opposition has been pushing and praying for for months.

The Syrian opposition’s clamoring for U.S. arms peaked after thousands of guerillas from Iran’s Lebanese Hezbollah movement crossed into Syria last month to fight alongside Assad’s troops.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen welcomed Washington’s “clear” statement.

"Urgent that Syria regime should let UN investigate all reports of chemical weapons use," he said on his official Twitter feed.

Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to President Obama, said the U.S. intelligence community believed the "Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times over the last year".

He said intelligence officials had a "high confidence" in their assessment, and also estimated that 100 to 150 people had died from chemical weapons attacks, "however, casualty data is likely incomplete".

"We have consistently said the use of chemical weapons violates international norms and crosses red lines that have existed in the international community for decades," Rhodes said.

He highlighted four instances in which the U.S. believes chemical weapons were used: on March 19 in the Aleppo suburb of Khan Al-Asal; April 13 in the Aleppo neighborhood of Sheikh Maksoud; May 14, in Qasr Abu Samra, which is north of Homs; and on May 23 in an attack in eastern Damascus.

Rhodes said President Obama had made the decision to increase assistance, including "military support", to the Supreme Military Council (SMC) and Syrian Opposition Coalition.

He did not give details of the aid, but U.S. media quoted administration officials as saying it will most likely include sending small arms and ammunition.

The New York Times quoted U.S. officials as saying Washington could provide anti-tank weapons.

Syria's rebels have been calling for both anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry.

The Wall Street Journal said Washington is also considering a no-fly zone inside Syria, possibly near the border with Jordan, which would protect refugees and rebels who are training there.

When asked whether Obama would back a no-fly zone over Syria, Rhodes said one would not make a "huge difference" on the ground -- but would be costly.

He said further actions would be taken "on our own timeline."

The CIA is expected to co-ordinate delivery of the military equipment and to train the rebel soldiers on how to use it.

Until now, the U.S. has limited its help to rebel forces by providing food rations and medical supplies.

Rhodes said the White House hoped the increased support would bolster the effectiveness and legitimacy of both the political and military arms of Syria's rebels, and said the U.S. was "comfortable" working with SMC chief Gen. Salim Idriss.

"It's been important to work through them while aiming to isolate some of the more extremist elements of the opposition, such as (Jabhat) al-Nusra," he said.

A senior pro-Kremlin politician in Russia -- the Damascus government’s chief ally and arms supplier -- said U.S. claims of the Assad government's use of chemical weapons were "fabricated.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin's senior foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said information provided by the United States to Russia over suspected use of chemical weapons by President Assad's forces "does not look convincing.”

Obama and Putin will hold a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of the summit of eight leading industrial nations early next week in Northern Ireland.

The White House announcement immediately shook up the ongoing debate in Washington DC over how the U.S. might provide assistance to the rebels.

Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who have been particularly strident in their calls for military aid, said the finding must change US policy in Syria. They called for further action, saying US credibility was on the line.

"A decision to provide lethal assistance, especially ammunition and heavy weapons, to opposition forces in Syria is long overdue, and we hope the president will take this urgently needed step," they said in a joint statement.

"But providing arms alone is not sufficient. 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."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, was also pleased with the decision and had a call for further action.

"It is long past time to bring the Assad regime's bloodshed in Syria to an end," said Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck. "As President Obama examines his options, it is our hope he will properly consult with Congress before taking any action."

And House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., released a statement saying, "I am pleased that President Obama's Administration has joined the growing international chorus declaring that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons in Syria, crossing the red line drawn by the president last August."

But Rogers doesn’t want the assistance to stop there: “As I called for in a USA Today op-ed earlier this week," Rogers said, "the United States should assist the Turks and our Arab League partners to create safe zones in Syria from which the U.S. and our allies can train, arm, and equip vetted opposition forces."

Unabated urban warfare in and around Damascus

Images I captured from videos on the fighting in and around Damascus

Urban warfare in and around the Syrian capital Damascus today entered its third day with no signs of abating.

The capital city is now seeing the biggest military deployment in the 16-month uprising as state forces try to stifle a "Damascus volcano" offensive mounted by the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA).

Video clips uploaded by opposition activists (from which I captured the images for this post) showed insurgents hiding in sandbagged alleyways, firing rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns amid clouds of dust as gunfire crackled. Rebels burned tires and blocked some streets to ease pressure on the fighters. Black columns of smoke billowed over the capital.

Monitors and activists say the regime had early Tuesday deployed helicopters to fire into Qaboon district of Damascus and that rebels and troops had clashed violently in Midan and Hajar al-Aswad neighborhoods.

Other neighborhoods rocked since Sunday by fighting include Tadamon, Kfar Sousa, Nahr Aisha, Barzeh, Mazzeh and Jobar.

In his daily column for Beirut’s independent daily an-Nahar, Ali Hamadeh says, “July 15, 2012 shall remain a landmark in the history of the Syrian revolution. On that day, several Damascus districts rose against the regime and officially opened a new front inside the capital. On July 15, 2012, the revolution sank roots in the capital and put the regime on the defensive…”

Sarkis Naoum, Hamadeh’s colleague and an-Nahar’s leading political analyst, says U.S. military researchers recognize the regular Syrian army remains strong, well equipped and cohesive, despite defections from its ranks. At the same time, however, the researchers expect “the Syrian army’s vigorous fight back against the rebels to wane for four major reasons,” namely:

(1) The armed rebels and the insurgents who linked up with them to set up joint fighting formations are now “a force to be reckoned with, despite their shortage of firepower and secure means of communication. They retain the unflinching support of Syria’s Sunnite majority. They proved their fighting prowess in urban and rural areas.” They set up a chain of command and they learned the difference between fighting army regulars and shabiha militiamen.

(2) Syria’s geography is such that lengthy lines of communication and supply do not help the army and shabiha to keep up their attacks on restive areas. “This means the regime can’t keep the whole country under its control, which allows rebels to move more freely between rural areas and cities. It’s what we call a 360-degree war.”

(3) The speed and frequency of military operations since mid-May this year is increasing the army’s burden at an increasing rate.

(4) Fighting fatigue, ceaseless defections, mounting casualties and growing suspicions between Alawite commanders and Sunnite rank and file soldiers are bound to wear away army morale.

Nevertheless, The Daily Telegraph reports today from Washington that the U.S. is refusing to help Syrian rebels until after its presidential election.

Filing from Washington, the paper’s Peter Foster writes in part:

Despite mounting fury from the Syrian rebels, who are seeking assistance for their efforts to overthrow the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, the White House has refused all requests for heavy weapons and intelligence support.

Syrian lobby groups in Washington, who only a few weeks ago were expressing hope that the Obama administration might give a green light to the supply of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, said they had now been forced to “take a reality pill” by the US government.

The Telegraph understands that the Syrian Support Group (SSG), the political wing of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), recently presented American officials with a document requesting 1,000 RPG-29 anti-tank missiles, 500 SAM-7 rockets, 750 23mm machine guns as well as body armor and secure satellite phones. They also asked for $6m to pay rebel fighters as they battle the regime. All their requests were rejected.

“Basically the message is very clear; nothing is going to happen until after the election, in fact nothing will happen until after inauguration [Jan 2013]. And that is the same message coming from everyone, including the Turks and the Qataris,” said a Washington lobbyist for the group…

Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think-tank in Washington, [said], “The reality is that the US appears to have no coherent foreign policy since the Arab Spring. It is not clear why we helped topple Gaddafi and we let Mubarak fall but we let Assad stay in power...”