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Syria: US and UK suspend aid after Islamist fighters seize weapons stores
Syria: US and UK suspend aid after Islamist fighters seize weapons stores
(about 1 hour later)
The US and Britain have suspended non-lethal aid to northern Syria after Islamist fighters seized western-backed rebel weapons warehouses, highlighting fears that supplies could end up in the wrong hands and the general chaos engulfing the nation.
The US and Britain have suspended all non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels after Islamist fighters seized control of headquarters and stores belonging to western-backed opposition forces.
The rebel Free Syrian Army fighting President Bashar al-Assad said the moves by Washington and London were rushed and mistaken. "We hope our friends will rethink and wait for a few days when things will be clearer," the FSA spokesman Louay Meqdad said.
The sudden decision highlights the hazards of backing rebels fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad at a time when extremist groups are in the ascendant.
The suspension, announced on Wednesday, underlines a crisis for the FSA leadership, which needs international backing to reinforce its credibility and to stop its fighters joining powerful al-Qaida-backed Islamist militants who now dominate the war with Assad.
The US embassy in Ankara said on Wednesday it had suspended "all non-lethal assistance" into northern Syria after members of the newly formed Islamic Front took over premises belonging to the Free Syrian Army's Supreme Military Council, which is aligned to the anti-Assad opposition National Coalition.
The US and Britain have in the past offered radios, body armour, medical supplies, money and food to rebels fighting Assad, but a US embassy spokesman in Turkey declined to give details of what supplies may have been halted.
Louay Meqdad, a spokesman for the FSA, urged "our friends" to reconsider the decision. Washington and London have supplied communications equipment, vehicles, body armour, medical supplies, cash and food to rebels fighting under the authority of the FSA. Arms are generally paid for and supplied by the Gulf states.
Fighters from the Islamic Front, which groups six major rebel brigades and which said last week it had quit the FSA, seized the headquarters of the Syrian Military Council, nominally in charge of the FSA, and weapons warehouses at the Bab al-Hawa crossing on Syria's north-western border with Turkey in fighting on Friday and Saturday.
The Islamic Front, which comprises six rebel brigades, seized warehouses reportedly containing dozens of anti-aircraft weapons and anti-tank rockets at the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkish border last weekend. The group is backed by Saudi Arabia.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based anti-Assad monitoring group, said the Islamic Front had seized dozens of Shilka anti-aircraft weapons and anti-tank rockets from the SMC arms stores.
a UK Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are currently investigating events that took place over the weekend. While that investigation is under way, we will not be making any deliveries of equipment to the SMC. We intend to resume support as soon as we and the SMC are satisfied the conditions on the ground allow the SMC to take safe delivery of equipment provided."
The Islamic Front's battlefield success in capturing the weapons stores could undermine SMC assurances to Washington that no supplies sent to their fighters would fall into the hands of Islamist brigades.
The US said there had been no change in its policy of providing non-lethal support to the moderate opposition.
The US embassy spokesman in Ankara said the situation was being investigated "to inventory the status of US equipment and supplies provided to the SMC".
In the House of Commons, David Cameron warned against the idea that the entire Syrian opposition was extremist and stressed the need to continue working with its moderate members. He said Britain should remain "fully engaged" in all efforts to end the civil war. "We must not allow this argument to develop that the only opposition in Syria is an extremist opposition," he said.
"As a result of this situation the United States has suspended all further deliveries of non-lethal assistance into northern Syria," the spokesman said.
The opposition is under heavy pressure to attend a peace conference on Syria in Geneva in the third week of January. Divisions in the rebel camp have weakened their efforts to bring down Assad. The conflict began with peaceful protests in Deraa in March 2011 and has descended into outright civil war that is estimated to have killed more than 126,000 people from both sides.
Five rebel fighters were killed in the clashes at Bab al-Hawa but it was not clear which side they were on.
Wednesday's announcements do not affect humanitarian support because that is distributed through aid groups and the United Nations. The first UN relief airlift to Syria from neighbouring Iraq will deliver food and winter supplies to the mostly Kurdish north-east over the next 10 days.
American aid, including trucks, ambulances and "meals ready to eat", reaches Syria overland through Turkey.
Thirteen international news organisations including the Guardian have written to Syrian rebel groups urging them to desist from kidnapping journalists and asking for the release of an estimated 30 who are believed to be held hostage.
US officials said in the summer that they had developed a system of distribution using SMC operatives that would ensure the aid reached US-allied groups. The US has been concerned that non-lethal aid should not reach Islamists.
Addressed to "the leadership of the armed opposition in Syria," the letter is signed by news agencies, leading US newspapers, the BBC, the Daily Telegraph and the Economist. It is being emailed to the FSA and sent via social media to the leaders of other groups including the Islamic Front.
A senior US administration official said the suspension should not be misinterpreted. "This is absolutely not the beginning of the US washing its hands. We will remain engaged in the humanitarian effort. We will remain engaged in the diplomatic effort," the official said, adding: "This doesn't represent a change in policy in our support for the moderate opposition."
It was revealed on Tuesday that two Spanish journalists – Javier Espinosa, an El Mundo reporter, and Ricardo Garcia Vilanova, a freelance photographer – are being held in Syria. They are thought to be in the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in north-eastern Raqqa province. Another group with links to al-Qaida, Jabhat al-Nusra, has abducted other journalists.
He said the administration was looking for other ways the support could be provided to ensure it did not fall into the hands of "extremists".
The UK wanted the situation clarified after the clashes. "We have no plans to deliver any equipment while the situation remains so unclear. We will keep this under close review," a spokesman from the British embassy in Ankara said.
Turkey shut its side of the border crossing in Hatay province, customs sources said, citing a reported increase in clashes on the Syrian side. There was no immediate confirmation from Turkish officials.
Wednesday's announcement does not affect humanitarian support because this is distributed through aid groups and the United Nations. The first UN relief airlift to Syria from neighbouring Iraq will deliver food and winter supplies to the mostly Kurdish north-east over the next 10 days.
The almost three-year conflict has killed more than 100,000 people, driven more than 2 million abroad as refugees and left many millions more dependent on aid.
Playing down the fighting between the Islamic Front and the FSA brigades as a "misunderstanding", the FSA's Meqdad said the SMC leader General Salim Idriss was talking to the front's leaders to try to resolve the confrontation.
Asked whether any FSA stock was missing Meqdad said: "Everything will be clear in the next hours and we believe the Syrians are good people and we don't believe there was a problem. They are our brothers."
Infighting among Syrian rebels has weakened their efforts to bring down Assad in a conflict which began with peaceful protests against his rule in March 2011 and has descended into civil war.
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