Time to arm Syria’s rebels

— The West must no longer tolerate the wanton slaughter occurring in Syria under dictator Bashar Assad. His consistent targeting of noncombatants and Arab Spring protesters, with a death toll exceeding 7,500, burnishes the regime’s well-established murderous record.

The Arab League and United Nations have tried but failed to negotiate a peaceful transition from dictatorship to representative governance. Russia and China stand in the way of forceful Security Council condemnation. Damascus apparently feels it has a green light to intensify the killing.

Anti-Assad forces have minimal chance of survival as long as the firepower remains overwhelmingly in the government’s hands. It’s time for the Obama administration to get behind international efforts to funnel arms and supplies to the rebels.

This is not a call for direct military intervention, as some U.S. politicians advocate. Syria occupies a far more complicated and sensitive patch of the Middle East than Libya, where a NATO-led air campaign helped tip the balance. The risks of direct U.S. intervention in Syria are unacceptably high. But there are options other than standing by and watching the slaughter.

Lest we forget: Damascus has provided safe harbor for murderous Palestinian radicals for decades. Syria provided a protective military umbrella during Hezbollah’s 1980s kidnapping binge in Lebanon. Why not seize this opportunity to confront a regime that’s been a constant irritant and threat to regional stability?

The record is replete with examples of massacres-the Balkans in the 1990s or Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, for example-that could have been prevented had outside powers been bolder.

Just as in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, the fall of a dictator always carries a risk of unknown elements gaining control. So far, however, none of the West’s worst fears of a power grab by Islamist radicals have been borne out in those countries. Cautious, quiet Western diplomacy and aid have helped moderate extremist tendencies.

Another risk is that arming rebels could cause Syria’s violence to explode into prolonged civil war. Those same dire predictions also failed to materialize in the other uprisings.

Syria’s dictatorship could be at a tipping point. It is increasingly isolated, and recent reports suggest army defections are growing. A deputy oil minister announced his defection Thursday. China is withdrawing its expatriates. Syria’s main benefactor, Iran, is handcuffed by stringent international economic sanctions.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar say humanitarian support is insufficient against what they describe as Syria’s “killing machine.” A key leader of the Palestinian group Hamas also is calling for the regime’s ouster.

Syrians have demonstrated a willingness to fight this battle themselves if they can level the playing field. Weapons aid is the least risky way for Washington to avert massacres and give them a fighting chance.

Editorial, Pages 12 on 03/13/2012

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