| New York Times | - |
ABU
DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday
sharpened the Obama administration's mounting criticism of Russia's role
in the escalating violence in Syria, asserting that the Kremlin was undermining the prospects of a ...
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday sharpened the Obama administration’s mounting criticism of Russia’s role in the escalating violence in Syria,
asserting that the Kremlin was undermining the prospects of a
negotiated solution by “contributing so many more weapons” and political
support to President Bashar al-Assad.
“They’re, in fact, enabling Assad to double down, which is creating an enormous problem,” Mr. Kerry said
in Jakarta, Indonesia, before he flew here to confer with top officials
of the United Arab Emirates, a gulf state that has been a strong
supporter of the Syrian opposition.
Mr.
Kerry’s tough criticism underscored the erosion of the Russian-American
partnership in Syria, and raised questions about the viability of the
United States’ diplomatic strategy to help resolve the escalating
crisis.
President Obama
has been deeply reluctant for nearly three years to get the United
States directly involved in Syria’s civil war, and pulled back the
threat of cruise missile strikes in September after Mr. Assad’s
agreement to eliminate his chemical arsenal. While chemicals for making
poison gas are leaving the country, behind schedule, Mr. Assad’s
conventional attacks on civilians have escalated significantly, and now
Mr. Obama is calling for a review of what one senior official called
“both old and new options” to bolster opposition forces and ease a
desperate humanitarian crisis.
Crisis in Syria
-
News, analysis and photos of the conflict that has left more than 100,000 dead and millions displaced.Full Coverage »
Administration
officials, however, insist that those options do not include directly
supplying more sophisticated, heavier armaments to the rebels, who are
already receiving some weapons and training under a limited C.I.A.
program, or carrying out airstrikes in a civil war that Mr. Obama fears
could turn into a prolonged conflict. Instead, the United States is
considering paying salaries to some of the rebel forces and providing
more transportation and intelligence, American and European officials
said.
Mr.
Assad’s hold on power has grown over the past year, according to the
head of American intelligence. Recognizing that a political settlement
is unlikely if he keeps the advantage, administration officials said
that Mr. Obama and other Western leaders had dropped their objections to
proposals by Saudi Arabia and other countries to funnel more advanced
weapons to vetted rebel groups, including portable antiaircraft weapons,
often called manpads.
A
secret meeting in Washington last week among the intelligence chiefs
from almost all of the countries attempting to oust the Assad government
included extensive discussion about how to best provide that new lethal
aid to rebel groups, the officials said. The gathering of the top
intelligence officials from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Britain, France
and the United Arab Emirates, and several others from the 11-nation
group known as the Friends of Syria, reflected a belief that the
diplomatic track has been exhausted unless Mr. Assad sustains
significant military setbacks.
Mr.
Kerry’s pointed remarks on Russia’s role were striking since it was Mr.
Kerry who flew to Moscow in May, and the administration hoped that
Russia would encourage the Syrian government to move toward a political
settlement without Mr. Assad. After meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin, Mr. Kerry announced that the United States and Russia would co-sponsor renewed peace talks in Geneva.
Those
talks have now stalled. In August and September, the United States
fleshed out and strengthened a Russian proposal that Syria’s chemical
arsenal be dismantled — a process now underway, but behind schedule —
suggesting the countries could work together even while backing
different sides in the war.
That
comity, or at least a temporary alignment of interests, has now been
set back. Mr. Obama was sharply critical of Russia in public statements
over the past week, first at a news conference with President François
Hollande of France and then at a meeting in California with King
Abdullah II of Jordan. One senior Western official who discussed the
issue with Mr. Obama last week said, “I’ve never seen him more
frustrated — not only with the Russians, but with the failure of
anything his own administration has tried so far.”
“The
Russian view is that their guy is winning,” said the official, who has
been involved in the talks in Washington, “and they may be right. So
we’re back to the question we faced a year ago: How do you change the
balance and force the Syrians to negotiate?”
Mr.
Kerry said on Monday that the United States and its allies were
approaching a series of critical decisions on how to respond to the
crisis. But even as he insisted that the administration remained
committed to peacefully resolving a civil war that has claimed about
140,000 Syrian lives and displaced hundreds of thousands, it is no
longer clear if the United States has the influence to broker a
settlement or whether the limited steps the White House is now willing
to consider would be sufficient to help it regain its lost leverage.
Debate
has raged since the start of the civil war over whether Western and
Arab nations should provide Syria’s rebels with manpads. Administration
officials have in the past sought to limit the flow of the weapons into
the Syria conflict, fearing they could be smuggled away and later used
by terrorists against civilian airliners. However, providing selected
rebel fighters with surface-to-air missiles is a logical response to the
persistent barrel-bomb attacks of Syrian cities like Aleppo and Homs.
Video|3:26
Ahmad Aboud/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The Syrian Opposition, Explained
There are believed to be hundreds, if not
thousands, of groups fighting in Syria. These opposition groups are
fighting the Assad regime, but recently turned on each other with
increased ferocity.
Jeffrey White, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
and a former senior American intelligence official, said the Assad
government was using Russian-supplied Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters to
carry out the barrel-bomb attack in Homs. Russia, he said, is most
likely providing spare parts such as engines, transmissions and rotors,
which may explain Mr. Kerry’s specific reference to how Russian weapons
are fueling the war.
A
fighter from the Damascus suburbs who fled to Beirut, Lebanon, said one
of the reasons he left was that the Army of Islam, the rebel group led
by Zahran Alloush, had surface-to-air missiles, which he said were a
Syrian Army model taken from antiaircraft bases a year ago. But the Army
of Islam, which is supported by Saudi private donors, has declined to
share its plentiful arms and its cash with other rebel groups,
particularly non-Islamist ones. That has complicated efforts to counter
Mr. Assad’s forces around Damascus.
Mr.
Obama’s apparent willingness to drop objections to supplying the rebel
groups with heavier weapons may simply be an acknowledgment that Saudi
Arabia and gulf states that are frustrated with American policy are now
prepared to do so anyway, without Washington’s blessing. American
officials say they also now have a better sense than they did last year
about which groups they can trust to use and secure the weapons.
Mr.
Obama has also been influenced by growing fears that Syria is becoming a
training ground for a new generation of terrorists and may become even
more of a haven until a political settlement is reached. “That’s one big
change from a year ago,” a senior American diplomat said. “And it’s
beginning to haunt everyone with memories of Afghanistan.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported the likely increase in manpad shipments and rebel salaries on its website Friday night.
Mr.
Kerry alluded on Monday to the internal administration deliberations
about what to do next on Syria on Monday before he conferred here with
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed
of the United Arab Emirates.
“It
is important for the world to consider in these next days exactly what
steps can now be taken in the face of this intransigence that is
creating an even greater human catastrophe by the moment,” Mr. Kerry
said at his news conference in Jakarta.
In
an administration that has been deeply divided on Syria strategy — the
first hints of antigovernment protest erupted in the Damascus markets
exactly three years ago Monday — Mr. Kerry has been among those arguing
for more overt and covert pressure on Mr. Assad, according to
administration officials.
But
Mr. Obama has been wary of deep involvement and is adamant that no
American forces can be put at risk — a reflection, aides say, of his
belief that even if Mr. Assad is overthrown, the country could enter
into a civil war from which there is no exit for years.
Mr.
Kerry’s remarks on Monday reflected the blunt assessment that Mr. Assad
is filibustering in Geneva while seeking a battlefield victory. “The
regime stonewalled; they did nothing, except continue to drop barrel
bombs on their own people and continue to destroy their own country,” he
said. “And I regret to say they are doing so with increased support
from Iran, from Hezbollah and from Russia.”
Michael R. Gordon reported from Abu Dhabi, and David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt from Washington.
end quote from:
end quote from:
No comments:
Post a Comment