US tries to pressure Syrian regime

A political analyst says the US is supporting the British and the French decision to send weapons to Syria to impose pressure on the Syrian regime to sit at the negotiating table, trying to give more credit to the opposition.

This is while hundreds of Syrian militants trained by the United States have joined the foreign-backed groups who are fighting against the Damascus government. An unnamed militant commander said on Friday that 300 militants, who have received advanced military training from American officers at a camp in neighboring Jordan, have crossed the border into Syria on Thursday.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Hisham Jaber, director of the Center for Middle East Studies, to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Do you think that now with the entrance of these forces trained by the US military we are hearing in Jordan that the insurgency and the conflict in Syria is entering a new phase?

Jaber: No, I do not think so. I think the opposition of America towards the conflict in Syria has been changed several times within the last years.

America’s position is subjective much more than objective, especially if you find the American position towards the British and the French decision to send weapons to Syria was subjective.

On one hand the Americans, they want to help and support the insurgents in Syria, on the other hand they are not sure that those weapons will not go into the hands of the extremist organizations like al-Qaeda or al-Nusra.

Now I think they are trying to make pressure on the Syrian regime since they are preparing a peaceful solution, a political solution with Russia and as we said under the sponsorship of China.

This is clear in my opinion but meanwhile they want to make some pressure on the regime to sit at the table, trying to give more credit to the opposition. For this reason I think, I wouldn’t say it again, the green light to the British and the French but they were supporting in a way or another this decision.

Second those weapons the British are talking about and the French, we had information that they have been sent to Turkey since last summer and also the French weapons they have been sent since October.

And we do not know exactly what kind of weapon they are talking about. This is not clear. If they are talking about missiles, air defense missiles and anti-tank missiles, it is very dangerous and it may change a little bit the balance if those weapons will go into the hand of the insurgents and especially the extremists Islamists Jihadists insurgents and they will be out of control.

And if they are talking about flak jackets as the British said and armored vehicles, I do not think it will change anything on the field because the Syrian Army is strong enough to face. There is no balance between the Syrian Army and what so-called Free Syrian Army.

And the Americans in my opinion they will stay in this policy until they will sit on the table with the Russian- I am not talking about Geneva two or Geneva three- we are expecting a summit between Mr. Obama and Mr. Putin and this summit I think will arrive and we will see a peaceful solution.

Of course they will not forget the regional role of two major countries in the region which are Turkey and Iran.