Weapons, recognition next for Syria opposition?

have increased within Syria and from exiles.
Moscow and Beijing sparked outrage in the West for vetoing a UN resolution condemning Assad’s crackdown on the 11-month uprising, which activists say has killed over 6 000 people, but the move was a potential boon for rebels.
The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which claims 40 000 renegade regime soldiers, have called for Syrian and Arab business leaders to help finance operations against Assad’s forces.
And some rebels are demanding more still: “We have the men, we just need the weapons,” an FSA commander who gave his name as Mohammed said last week.
“We want military support. We need equipment,” he told a press conference near Damascus that was broadcast on the Internet.
Iraq’s deputy interior minister Adnan al-Assadi told AFP on Saturday that arms were already being smuggled in through Iraq.
“The weapons are transported from Baghdad to Nineveh (province), and the prices of weapons in Mosul (the province’s capital) are higher now because they are being sent to the opposition in Syria,” Assadi said.
“The weapons are being smuggled from Mosul through the Rabia crossing to Syria, as members of the same families live on both sides of the border,” he said.
Top Republican US Senator John McCain last week called for the United States to think about arms drops in Syria.
“We should start considering all options, including arming the opposition. The bloodletting has got to stop,” McCain told reporters.
At the same time, CNN revealed that the Pentagon and the United States’ regional Centcom military command had “begun a preliminary internal review of US military capabilities.”
“In this type of analysis being done, the military would typically look at all options ranging from humanitarian relief, to support for opposition groups, as well as outright military strikes, although that is an unlikely option,” two senior US administration officials told CNN.
But even for some members of the SNC, it is still too early to ask for weapons.
“We can ask for money, for logistical help. But weapons? Why not? But first we must end the delivery of Russian, Chinese and Iranian weapons to the regime,” said SNC member Imad Houssari, who is also spokesman for the Local Coordination Committees organising protests on the ground.
Qatar, which led Arab intervention to back Libya’s revolution, is examining ways to broaden support for the rebels, including with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al-Thani has spoken in favour of sending Arab troops to Syria “to stop the killings.”
Following the double Chinese-Russian veto, help could consist of financing or arming the rebels, or even sending military advisers to help the FSA.
But Qatar is for now focussing its efforts on getting recognition of the SNC, an alliance of Islamists, nationalists, liberals and independents. – AFP.