MESOP Syria Daily: The Opposition, the TOW Missiles, & the Obama Administration

By Scott Lucas May 13, 2014 11:43 Updated  – The Daily Beast uses sources from Syria’s opposition to reconstruct their meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry last Thursday in Washington: Kerry said he believed the international community “wasted a year” by not working together to help topple strongman Bashar al-Assad.

The various countries trying to help the Free Syrian Army had failed to coordinate their efforts effectively for a long time, Kerry said (to) Syrian Opposition Coalition president Ahmad Jarba, according to three participants in the meeting. And that lack of coordination had dramatically set back the drive to stop Assad’s rampage and counter the growing terrorism threat.

So what will the Obama Administration do to back up Kerry’s words? One important clue comes from General Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir, the head of the Supreme Military Council — Washington was involved with the provision of the first US-made, TOW anti-tank missiles to insurgents last month:

(Bashir) argued that the FSA’s handling of the TOW anti-tank missiles should give the American government enough confidence to start providing anti-aircraft weapons, as well.

“The FSA (Free Syrian Army) has been dealing very well with the TOW missiles. Under our protection, people are trained to use them, and it is with the collaboration and under the supervision of the United States,” Bashir said.

Nine Syrian insurgent groups, considered “moderate” by the US, have been seen with small supplies of the TOW missiles.

But that’s about it beyond more rhetoric from Kerry, who has repeatedly been defeated by others within the Obama Administration when he pressed for significant assistance to the insurgency — including after last August’s chemical weapons attacks by the Assad regime:

Inside the meeting, Kerry told the Syrian opposition leaders that he understood their desire for more advanced arms. But he did not make any specific commitments for new American aid. He told the Syrian leaders the United States had been doing its best to help the Syria people and would continue to do so.

“Secretary Kerry was very emotional and sympathetic to the Syrian cause, and he supports the Syrian revolution and the Syrian people,” Bashir said. “We have so much hope that there will be changes in the policy.”

Assad Regime Adds Germany to List of Countries “Disrupting Presidential Election”

The Foreign Ministry has added Germany to “the choir of countries…trying to disrupt the Presidential elections”, as a party in “supporting, funding and arming the armed terrorist groups “.

The Assad regime has already condemned the US and other European countries for supposed interference in President Assad’s nominal contest against two challengers in a June 3 vote.

“This choir, including Germany, must know that legitimacy does not come from them; legitimacy is decided by Syrian people and their allegations about democracy are sheer lies” the Ministry asserted.

It gave no specific evidence of Germany’s disruption of the campaign.

Foreign Ministry Denounces Insurgent Cut-Off of Water to Aleppo

The Foreign Ministry has formally complained to the United Nations about the cut-off of water to Aleppo city by insurgents.

In letters to the UN Secretary-General and Security Council, the Ministry said that insurgents had been punishing civilians for nine days.

The opposition fighters have reportedly stopped the water supply, following a cut-off of electricity last month, to press regime forces in the western half of Syria’s largest city.

The Ministry said the stopping of operation at a major pumping station had forced people to seek water from rivers and other unsafe sources.