Syria Fires Scud Missiles at Insurgents, U.S. Says
Narciso Contreras/Associated Press
Free Syrian Army fighters with two bodies they found in the rubble during clashes with government forces in Aleppo on Monday.
By MICHAEL R. GORDON and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: December 12, 2012 35 Comments
WASHINGTON — Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have fired Scud missiles at rebel fighters in recent days, Obama administration officials said on Wednesday.
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The move represents a significant escalation in the fighting, which has
already killed more than 40,000 civilians in a nearly two-year-old
conflict that has threatened to destabilize the Middle East, and
suggests increased desperation on the part of the Assad government.
One American official, who asked not to be identified because he was
discussing classified information, said that missiles had been fired
from the Damascus area at targets in northern Syria.
“The total is number is probably north of six now,” said another
American official, adding that the targets were in areas controlled by
the Free Syrian Army, the main armed insurgent group.
It is not clear how many casualties resulted from the attacks by the
Scuds — a class of Soviet-era missiles made famous by Saddam Hussein of
Iraq during the first Persian Gulf war. But it appeared to be the first
time that the Assad government had fired the missiles at targets inside
Syria.
American officials did not say how they had monitored the missile
firings, but American intelligence has been closely following
developments in Syria through aerial surveillance and other methods,
partly out of concern that Mr. Assad may resort to the use of chemical
weapons in the conflict.
The Obama administration views the Assad government’s use of Scud
missiles as a “significant escalation” of the conflict, said a senior
official. It also shows, he said, the increasing pressure on Mr. Assad,
since Scuds are primarily defensive weapons, being used by the
government offensively against a counterinsurgency.
“Using Scuds to target tanks or military bases is one thing,” the
official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Using them to target
rebels hiding in playgrounds at schools is something else.”
Among other repercussions the Obama administration fears is the
possibility that Mr. Assad’s military could fire Scuds near, or over,
the border with Turkey, which has become one of the Syrian president’s
most ardent foes. That could result in Turkey firing its Patriot
antimissile batteries, the administration official said.
Military experts said that move might reflect the Assad government’s
worries that its aircraft have been vulnerable to rebel air defenses. In
recent weeks, rebel forces have captured Syrian military bases, seized
air-defense weapons and used some of them to fire at Syria warplanes.
But one expert said that the government may have decided to use large
missiles in order to wipe out military bases — and the arsenals they
hold — that had been taken over by the opposition.
The Obama administration has yet to comment publicly on the missile
attacks, but a senior administration official alluded to the development
in a briefing for reporters on Tuesday.
“The Syrian regime has used aircraft,” the administration official
said. “It has used artillery, and it appears that it has even used
missile to attack the Syrian population and to attack what was a
peaceful protest movement.”
There have been other indications of Syrian government use of missiles.
The Local Coordinating Committees, an antigovernment activist network in
Syria, reported from its Damascus office in an e-mail late Tuesday that
“Regime forces are firing land missiles that are capable of carrying
chemical warheads.” The group did not elaborate on what the missiles
were or where the information had originated.
The developments came as representatives of more than 100 countries and
organizations that support the anti-Assad movement met in Morocco and
endorsed a newly formed insurgent coalition as the legitimate
representative of the Syrian people. President Obama formally
acknowledged that coalition, known as the National Coalition of Syrian
Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, in an interview on Tuesday with ABC
News.
But the leader of the coalition took issue with a decision by the Obama
administration to classify Al Nusra Front — one of several armed groups
fighting Mr. Assad — as a foreign terrorist organization and urged the
United States to review that decision.
The coalition leader, Sheik Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib, said, “The logic under
which we consider one of the parts that fights against the Assad regime
is a terrorist organization is a logic one must reconsider.”
He also said: “We love our country. We can differ with parties that
adopt political ideas and visions different from ours. But we ensure
that the goal of all rebels is the fall of the regime.”
He was speaking after the Moroccan organizers of the conference said a
declaration recognizing the new coalition as the legitimate
representative of the Syrian people had been adopted by the 114
representatives at the gathering. News reports said the draft
declaration adopted by the meeting also called on Mr. Assad to “stand
aside” to permit a “sustainable political transition” after the months
of revolt and bloodshed that have claimed tens of thousands of lives and
sent hundreds of thousands of Syrians fleeing into neighboring
countries.
The document also warned against any use by government forces of
chemical or biological weapons, saying such action would be met by a
“serious response.” The Syrian authorities have denied that they will
use chemical weapons against their own people.
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