Mark Hosenball and Phil Stewart
Reuters
July 8, 2013
(Reuters) – Congressional committees are holding up a plan to send
U.S. weapons to rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad because
of fears that such deliveries will not be decisive and the arms might
end up in the hands of Islamist militants, five U.S. national security
sources said.
Both the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees
have expressed reservations behind closed doors at the effort by
President Barack Obama’s administration to support the insurgents by
sending them military hardware.
None of the military aid that the United States announced weeks ago
has arrived in Syria, according to an official from an Arab country and
Syrian opposition sources.
Democrats and Republicans on the committees worry that weapons could
reach factions like the Nusra Front, which is one of the most effective
rebel groups but has also been labeled by the United States as a front
for al Qaeda in Iraq.
Full story here.
