US “Non-Lethal” Aid to Syrian Rebels Includes Light Arms

Despite government insistence that American aid to rebels opposing Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is exclusively non-lethal, light arms including anti-tank missiles are being provided as well. According to a report by the Reuters news agency, funding for the arms comes through secret votes in closed-door sessions of Congressional committees and is supposedly being delivered only to “moderate” factions fighting Assad. The arms are shipped via Jordan. According to the report, funding extends through the end of 2014. The intent is to keep the American-supplied weapons out of the hands of the Islamist groups also fighting against the Assad regime, but that is impossible to do with certainty. There have already been a number of incidents where the Islamist groups, whose ultimate goal is to turn Syria into an Islamic state, have turned their weapons on their presumptive comrades-in-arms.  In Geneva on Monday, the session dealing with issues of transition didn’t last an hour as rebels insisted that President Assad’s removal is an absolute demand and regime representatives insisted that Assad has no plans to vacate his office.