U.S. Will Send Air Force To Defend Anti-Assad Rebels In Syria

(The Real Agenda) The United States has authorized to use air power to defend new rebel fighters in Syria, even if the Assad regime opposes it. In fact, the US will fire against members of the Syrian army should they become an interference against the American plan to train and arm more rebels, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The decision, according to the WSJ was directly authorized by President Barack Obama. Experts warn that there is now a risk that the US military engage into direct conflict with Syrian troops. US officials consulted by the newspaper believe that the Government of Bashar al-Assad will not respond to American attacks.

Obama, according to the Journal, authorized the use of air power to defend the members of the new fighting force backed by the United States in Syria if attacked by government forces or other groups.

That decision, according to sources of the newspaper, ended a debate on the role that the US military should play in supporting their “allies” in the battlefield in Syria.

The WSJ says the new force recently created by the United States is committed to fighting the Islamic State as well as the Syrian regime.

Adds that Alistair Baskey, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, declined to discuss the details of the new rules of engagement but said that the US government has made it clear that it will “take the necessary steps to ensure that these forces perform their mission successfully.”

Likewise, the spokesman said the United States will support the forces trained by the Pentagon even if they have to “fire defense shots” to protect them.

According to the newspaper, the Ministry of Defense has struggled to recruit rebels for new training and equipping the force that it launched last year, partly because it asks its members to fight against the Islamic state rather than against the regime of Assad.

Most rebels see the Assad government as their main enemy, he adds. US military officials, according to the Journal, say less than 60 rebels have completed the training program that the Pentagon began, which calls the effort into question.

Luis R. Miranda is an award-winning journalist and the founder and editor-in-chief at The Real Agenda. His career spans over 18 years and almost every form of news media. His articles include subjects such as environmentalism, Agenda 21, climate change, geopolitics, globalisation, health, vaccines, food safety, corporate control of governments, immigration and banking cartels, among others. Luis has worked as a news reporter, on-air personality for Live and Live-to-tape news programs. He has also worked as a script writer, producer and co-producer on broadcast news. Read more about Luis.