From Every Direction, Arms For Syria -- Christian Science Monitor
France is pushing hard, it seems, for Western powers to arm Syria's rebellion. If they get their way, they'll be joining an already crowded playing field.
The United Nations said today that more than 5 million Syrians – about 20 percent of its population – have been left reliant on aid handouts by the ferocious civil war that has raged there for two years now.
A glance at today's headlines gives good reason to expect the number of Syrians driven from their homes to bulge – they highlight the prospect of more arms flowing into a conflict that has already claimed 70,000 lives and driven more than 1 million refugees into neighboring countries.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar are already arming the rebellion, and Iran and its partner Hezbollah in Lebanon have been sending arms and men to fight alongside President Bashar al-Assad's troops. Now Britain and France want to open the door to direct arming of the rebels themselves. Yesterday, the two countries said they want to lift immediately a European Union embargo on arming the rebels, set to expire on May 31.
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My Comment: This is now a full scale sectarian war with Russia, Western counties, and Sunni and Shiite countries involved in supporting and supplying their own side. The gloves are off, and I would not be surprised if member states in the EU start to supply weapons to the rebels (if not already). 2013 will probably be the deciding year in this conflict, and I expect casualties to explode (as well as having more refugees flee the country) by the end of this year. And if chemical weapons become involved .... I will then expect casualties to really sky-rocket, and foreign intervention to intensify appreciably. This conflict also has all the ingredients to spread into Lebanon, Iraq, and God only knows where else .... and then there is the question of Israel and how would they respond if Syria starts to shoot Scud missiles at them. Talk about one big mess.
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