Obama takes heat for blurring ‘red line’ in Syria

{mosads}Since then, rebels on the ground say they haven’t received any of the promised aid, and expect the deliveries to include light weapons, not the antiaircraft and anti-tank missiles they say they need to beat Assad.

McCain’s comments follow reports that Assad’s forces lobbed rockets fixed with “poisonous gas heads” in attacks that killed hundreds of people near Damascus on Wednesday.

McCain has long advocated for a robust U.S. role in the uprising that started in March 2011. The White House has so far ruled out deploying American troops or enforcing a no-fly zone, and has raised concerns that weapons could end up in the hands of Islamists fighting Assad.

The White House on Wednesday said it was “deeply concerned” by the latest reports and called for urgent consultations” at the United Nations to discuss the allegations and press for Assad’s forces to allow UN investigators access to the site.

The Obama administration has so far ruled out deploying American troops or enforcing a no-fly zone, and has raised concerns that weapons could end up in the hands of Islamists fighting Assad.

Separately, the Syrian Coalition fighting Assad said Wednesday that nations that “claim to be friends of Syria must come together to put an end to the Syrian tragedy by immediately restraining Assad’s crimes.”

The group called on the United Nations to call an emergency session on Syria.

“The Syrian Coalition emphasizes that the Security Council’s failure to assume its responsibilities towards the unfolding situation in Syria would raise questions about its raison d’être,” the group said in a statement. “If the Security Council does not act firmly, it will lose all legitimacy.”

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