U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. is preparing for the
first time to directly provide nonlethal assistance, including food
rations and medical supplies, to rebel Syrian fighters as part of a bid
to change President Bashar al-Assad's "calculations" and expedite his
removal from office.
Washington's top diplomat also announced at an international
conference in Italy Thursday that the U.S. will provide $60 million in
assistance to Syria's main political opposition group, the Syrian
Opposition Coalition, to help it unify politically and better distribute
humanitarian supplies and public services to areas of Syria that have
been liberated from Mr. Assad's rule.
But the Obama administration remained steadfast in its
opposition to directly providing any arms to Mr. Assad's military
opponents, many of whom fight under the banner of the Free Syrian Army.
The U.S. also remained opposed this week to providing
nonlethal gear to Syrian rebels that could be used on the battlefield,
such as body armor and night-vision equipment, though the U.K. is
preparing to provide such assistance, according to U.S. and European
officials.
As a result, Mr. Kerry's announcement drew quick criticism
from top Syrian opposition leaders Thursday, who characterized his new
offer as inadequate. Some charged Washington with continuing to offer
minimal assistance, despite the leading role of American adversaries, in
shipping arms to Mr. Assad's security forces.
"Nothing has changed, the U.S. position of no arming is
crystal clear," said Mohammad Sarmini, a spokesman for the Syrian
National Council, the largest faction in the opposition coalition, which
held to a threatened boycott and did not send its representatives to
Rome.
"This has become embarrassing and degrading," Mr. Sarmini
said. "The regime's escalation has rendered even our unmet pleas
foolish. We used to beg for anti-aircraft missiles. What do you ask for
to counter Scuds?"
The U.S. has already provided humanitarian supplies,
communications equipment and training to Syria's political opposition.
But Thursday marked the first time that Washington announced it will
directly engage with Syria's military fighters through the Supreme
Military Council, which is attached to the Syrian Opposition Coalition.
U.S. officials said they are going to be closely vetting the
rebel factions within the SMC to ensure that American supplies don't end
up with radical Islamist groups or militias tied to al Qaeda, such as
the Al-Nusra Front. American officials didn't set a time for when this
aid will reach Syria's fighters and acknowledged that the new assistance
still needed to be approved by Congress.
"We will help the SMC, and the Free Syrian Army tend to the
sick and wounded," Mr. Kerry said at the Rome press conference while he
stood alongside Moaz al-Khatib, the head of the SOC. "The stakes are
really high. And we can't allow this country in the heart of the Middle
East to be destroyed by a dictatorial regime or to be high-jacked by
extremists."
Mr. Kerry's announcement marked a narrow shift in U.S. policy
towards Syria, where the United Nations estimates more than 70,000
people have died over the past two years in a widening civil war.
But it also seemed to fall short of the expectations of the Syrian opposition leaders who did show up in Rome.
Mr. Khatib, speaking after Mr. Kerry, gave a fiery
presentation at the press briefing accusing the international community
of being more concerned by the Muslim religion of most of the fighters
than the atrocities being committed by Mr. Assad's forces.
"The media pays more attention to the length of the beards of
the fighters than the massacres," said Mr. Khatib, a former preacher at
Damascus's famed Ummayyad Mosque.
The SOC chairman told representatives of the 11 nations who
attended the Rome conference that the Syrian opposition is preparing to
appoint the head of an interim government that will operate inside
Syria. He also attempted to diminish fears of an Islamist government
coming to power, stressing that his organization is inclusive and will
maintain Syria's diverse ethnic and sectarian makeup.
The Obama administration officials engaged in an intense
policy debate in the days leading up to the Rome conference, according
to senior U.S. officials, with the final package only being agreed to
hours before Mr. Kerry took part in the conference.
In recent months, senior Pentagon, State Department and
Central Intelligence Agency officials have advised President Barack
Obama to begin sending American arms directly to moderate factions
within Syrian military option, according to American officials. These
leaders argued that such lethal assistance could allow the U.S. to
better shape which groups gain power in Damascus when Mr. Assad is
eventually overthrown.
The White House, however, has pushed back, according to these
officials, due to fears U.S. weapons could wind up in the hands of
radical fighters. Mr. Obama has also argued that there are already
enough weapons flowing to the opposition fighters that are being
supplied by Muslim countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Syria is expected to continue to dominate Mr. Kerry's first
overseas trip as Washington's top diplomat, which includes stops in the
coming days in Ankara, Riyadh and Doha.
Leaders from these countries have been pressing the U.S. to
more directly arm and finance Syria's opposition, according to U.S. and
Arab diplomats. And some Mideast officials encouraged the Syrian
opposition to boycott the Rome conference as tool to further pressure
Washington to send arms.