BEIRUT — Britain called on the U.S. and other allies Wednesday to do more to shape the Syrian opposition into a coherent force, saying the re-election of President Barack Obama is an opportunity for the world to take stronger action to end the deadlocked civil war.
Also Wednesday, Turkey said NATO members - including the United States - have discussed using Patriot missiles along the Syrian border. It was unclear whether the purpose was to protect a safe zone inside Syria or to protect Turkey from Syrian regime attacks.
The announcements come as U.S. allies appear to be anticipating a new, bolder approach from Obama now that he has won a second term.
“With the re-election of Obama, what you have is a strong confidence on the British side that the U.S. administration will be engaged more on Syria from the get-go,” said Shashank Joshi, an analyst at London’s Royal United Services Institute, a security think tank.
It remains to be seen, however, whether the U.S. plans to change course in any significant way.
Syria’s civil war, which activists estimate has killed more than 36,000 people since March 2011, has been the most deadly and prolonged conflict of the Arab Spring. World powers have shown no appetite for foreign military intervention, and there are fears that arming the factious opposition could backfire, with powerful weapons falling into the hands of extremists.
Against this backdrop, a diplomatic process that has proved increasingly moribund has been the only real option for peace thus far.
In Washington, the State Department said the Obama administration was open to considering the deployment of Patriot missiles along the Turkish border, as was done previously during the 1990 Persian Gulf War and at the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003.
Officials said such a deployment had been raised as a possibility by Turkish officials several weeks ago at NATO but that there had been no formal request from Ankara. They stressed that Patriots are defensive and would not be used to help enforce potential no-fly zones over Syrian territory.
“We’ve been working within NATO and with Turkey to look at what other defenses [and] support Turkey might require,” State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said. “As of today we haven’t had a formal request of NATO. But as you know in the past, we have reinforced Turkey with Patriots. So we will await a formal request, and then NATO will deliver aid.”
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official who reported Patriot missile discussions between his nation and its allies, including the United States,said planning for possible Patriot deployment to protect a safe zone inside Syria had been put on hold pending the U.S. election.
But the matter is likely to be taken up now that Obama has won a second term, he added, saying any missile deployment might happen under a “NATO umbrella.” He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.
NATO has insisted it will not intervene in Syria without a clear United Nations mandate.
During a trip Wednesday to visit Syrian refugees in Jordan, British Prime Minister David Cameron also announced that his country will deal directly with Syrian rebel military leaders. Previously, Britain and the U.S. have acknowledged contacts only with exile groups and political opposition figures - some connected to rebel forces - inside Syria.
“There is an opportunity for Britain, for America, for Saudi Arabia, Jordan and likeminded allies to come together and try to help shape the opposition outside Syria and inside Syria,” Cameron said. “And try to help them achieve their goal, which is our goal, of a Syria without [President Bashar] Assad.”
Like their British counterparts, U.S. officials, includingthe former U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, have already been in contact with members of the Free Syrian Army and those discussions will continue, Nuland said.
She stressed, however, that there is no change to the U.S.policy of supplying only nonlethal assistance to the political opposition.
Rebels, meanwhile, fired several mortar rounds at the Syrian president’s residence in Damascus early Wednesday, but failed to hit their mark, said Bassam al-Dada, an adviser to the commander of the Free Syrian Army, Col. Riad al-Assad.
Meanwhile, a judge was killed when a bomb exploded under his car, the second high-profile assassination of a top Assad loyalist in two days.
Rebels also fired mortars at a Palestinian refugee camp, activists said, apparently to try to break the resistance of a pro-government Palestinian faction. There are a half-million Palestinian refugees inSyria.
In Jordan at the Zaatari refugee camp, which houses about 40,000 of the estimated 236,000 people who have fled into the nation from Syria, Cameron said he would press Obama to drive forward efforts to end the 19-month-oldconflict.
Cameron plans to convene a meeting of Britain’s National Security Council in London devoted entirely to Syria and to discuss how the United Kingdom can encourage Obama to pursue a more direct strategy.
“Right here in Jordan I am hearing appalling stories about what has happened inside Syria, so one of the first things I want to talk to Barack about is how we must do more to try and solve this crisis,” Cameron said.
Talks with those who fled the violence have redoubled his “determination that now, with a newly elected American president, we have got to do more to help this part of the world, to help Syria achieve transition,” Cameronadded.
Information for this article was contributed by Matthew Lee, Bradley Klapper, Dale Gavlak, Suzan Fraser, Christopher Torchia, Barbara Surk and Bassem Mroue of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 11/08/2012