The White House announced Thursday that it is stepping up aid to main Syrian rebel groups after determining that Syria’s government used chemical weapons.
White House officials refused to describe the new aid, suggesting that President Barack Obama has decided to supply weaponry to the rebel group.
The White House intelligence communities concluded that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent Sarin, on a small scale against the opposition, killing between 100 to 150 people in the past year. While these deaths make up only a small faction of the 90,000 deaths in Syria, they violate international norms and codes.
“The President has been clear that the use of chemical weapons — or the transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist groups — is a red line for the United States, as there has long been an established norm within the international community against the use of chemical weapons,” The White House said in a press release.
The aid will go to the Syrian Military Council, a military wing of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood’s Syrian affiliate.
The Muslim Brotherhood is based in Cairo. It is a political rival to Al Qaeda in the Middle East, even though its members share many of the same religious and ideological views.
The White House believes it is likely that Assad still maintains control of these weapons.
“The President has said that the use of chemical weapons would change his calculus, and it has,” The White House said. “Our decision-making has already been guided by the April intelligence assessment and by the regime’s escalation of horrific violence against its citizens.”
The White House has expressed frustration with Assad in the past, but with the proof of these chemical attacks, the White House is reaching their breaking point.
“In our view, you cannot have stability in Syria with a leader like Assad who has demonstrated he is willing to kill women and children in his own country.” said National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting Ben Rhodes during a press call. “We are working towards a political settlement which is the only way to provide political stability in Syria. This would include Bashar al-Assad stepping down.”
The White House refused to comment whether or not they would be providing weapon support to the SMC.
“We are aiming to be responsive to the needs of the Syrian opposition including the SMC,” Rhodes said. “We’ve heard their request and we want to be responsive and provide assistance to the military on the ground.”