Hurdles for UN team on standby to probe Syria chemical arms

Rebels battled Syrian troops in the eastern border city of Qamishli on Friday, a monitoring group opposed to President Bashar al-Assad said, ending a de facto truce in the mainly Christian and Kurdish area.                 

Qamishli, on the border with Turkey and close to Iraq, has remained peaceful during a two-year uprising against Assad because local Kurds agreed with mostly Arab rebels to avoid clashes within city limits, said the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.           

Videos posted on the Internet on Friday showed pickup trucks and dozens of rebels preparing an attack on Qamishli's domestic airport and smoke rising from the airport grounds.
                
The Observatory said the advance includes rebels of the Free Syrian Army and the hard-line Islamist Nusra Front, who has clashed in the past with Christians and Kurds the opposition, has tried to persuade to abandon Assad.         

On Thursday, US President Barack Obama approved up to 10 million US dollars in nonlethal aid to the Syrian opposition, including food and medications, according to a statement issued by US Secretary of State John Kerry.                

The president signed a presidential determination allowing his secretaries of state and defense to explore “the inventory and resources” of any federal government agency for the immediate provision of “nonlethal commodities and services” to the Syrian opposition coalition and its military wing.            

On the other hand, US senators, including some of President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats, pushed the White House on Thursday to shift its policy and provide lethal military assistance to rebels waging a civil war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.                

At his Senate confirmation hearing earlier on Thursday, Air Force General Philip Breedlove, Obama's nominee to become NATO's supreme allied commander, gave very qualified support to the idea of arming Syrian rebels.            

He stressed the need to first ensure that the arms do not fall into the wrong hands, implicitly pointing to concerns that have kept the Obama administration from taking that step.
                 
Asked about the possibility of creating a safe zone in northern Syria, Breedlove acknowledged that the Patriot missile batteries deployed to Turkey by the United States and NATO allies could be used to "project power."        

Separately, foreign ministers from the G8 group of rich countries failed to patch up deep divisions over Syria and condemned North Korea's threats but did not announce any concrete measures to address Pyongyang's provocations during a meeting in London on Thursday.       

For his part, the British Foreign Secretary William Hague, speaking after talks with his counterparts, admitted the world had done too little to try to resolve Syria's two-year-old conflict, in which an estimated 70,000 people have been killed.               

He stressed the need to first ensure that the arms do not fall into the wrong hands, implicitly pointing to concerns that have kept the Obama administration from taking that step.
              
On another note, a team of UN-led experts is on standby in Cyprus waiting for the go-ahead to investigate allegations of chemical weapons attacks in Syria, but the mission has been held up by diplomatic wrangling over their powers and how to keep them safe.           

The team of at least 15 investigators includes analytical chemists, able to collect and test suspected samples, and World Health Organization experts on the medical effects of exposure to toxins, who could examine alleged victims.           

For now, the deployment is at an impasse.           

In this context, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the mission can only be successful if it considers allegations from all sides.                 

The mission will test the diplomatic skills of its leader, Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, who helped dismantle Iraq's biological and chemical weapons program in the 1990s.     

Separately, Austria's foreign minister said on Friday that Austrian U.N. peacekeepers, fearing their safety due to fighting in Syria, will assess on a daily basis if they can stay to monitor a truce between Israel and Syria.                      

"We have decided, as Austrians, to stay as long as we can, this is our mandate ....but we have to decide every day if it's possible," Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said.
                  
Israel is anxious for the peacekeepers to remain, worried that the Golan will become a springboard for attacks on Israelis by Islamist militants fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.         

Last month, Syrian rebels held 21 Filipino peacekeepers for three days, prompting the force to scale back on patrols.             

Two Austrian peacekeepers were wounded in November when their convoy came under fire near Damascus airport.                  

Israeli military sources have said they fear UNDOF will not hold up under the insurgency in the Golan, a strategic plateau Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War and not recognized internationally. 


REUTERS/LBCI