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The U.S. has now
formally recognized a new Syrian opposition group as the legitimate
representative of the Syrian people. But the U.S. has repeatedly
declined to provide weapons for rebels fighting President Bashar
Assad's army. However, NPR has
learned that there are movements behind the scenes. In Jordan,
several Syrian sources said that Jordanian authorities, along with
their U.S. and British counterparts, have organized training for
Syrian rebels on sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons. The Syrian sources
would not identify the weapons or where they came from, but they
indicated they were the kind of arms that could have a dramatic
impact in the fight against Assad's military.
Since the summer,
the Syrian air force has been pounding rebel strongholds with
helicopter gunships and fighter jets. Those bombings have killed
hundreds, if not thousands, and many of the casualties have been
civilians. In recent weeks,
the rebels have acquired anti-aircraft weapons from Syrian military
arsenals, after capturing key air-defense bases in northern and
central Syria. The rebels successfully downed
a Russian-made MiG fighter jet late last month. It was the first
time the rebels succeeded in assembling and firing an SA-16
shoulder-to-air missile.
Training
For The Rebels
One Syrian rebel
fighter, who did not want to be named, said he attended a training
course in Jordan and that the training was not led by uniformed
Western soldiers, but rather by men in plainclothes who spoke several
different dialects of Arabic. This suggests the trainers may have
been private contractors, who are sometimes used by the U.S. for
training and assembly of sophisticated weaponry. The rebel fighter
also said members of the Jordanian military attended the training
sessions. The source said he
and about 25 others took part in the course. He said a handful of
rebel groups fighting inside Syria each sent a few men to the
training. Another source said
hundreds of men have done the training in the past two to three
months.
These two sources —
along with two other sources (none of whom wanted to be named) —
said it was their impression that the sophisticated anti-aircraft
weapons are present in Jordan and could be transferred into Syria at
any time.
"You have to
unite first," a source quoted one American as saying during a
training session. The reference is to disparate rebel groups
fighting in Syria who don't follow a clear chain of command. "They want us
to have structures. It's all about structures," said a second
source, a Syrian army officer who defected and comes from a
prominent family. This same source
said uniformed U.S. military officials regularly meet with Syrian
defectors to discuss military planning. He said the current debate
centers around whether rebel fighters should first seize the
southern Syrian region of Dera'a, just across the border from
Jordan, before making a march to the Syrian capital, Damascus, just
an hour's drive away.
Another option
would be for the rebels to focus all their attention and resources
on Damascus, where some rebel groups have already launched an
offensive east of the city and on
the civilian airport. Several sources
said the focus of this military training and advising has been on
professional soldiers who defected from the army, rather than
civilian fighters who might have a more religious bent. The officer who
defected said the U.S. and Jordan hope to avoid what they call the
"mess" in northern and eastern Syria, where Islamist
fighters like Jabhat al-Nusra have dominated the fight. That
group has been designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. The U.S. Embassy
in Jordan referred questions about this story to the State
Department in Washington. Neither the State Department nor the
Pentagon responded to requests for comment.
(NPR)
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