page_title: Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War
section_title: United States
hierarchical_section_title: Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War / Support for Syrian opposition / United States
caption_attribution_description: English: A rebel fighter in the Sword of al-Sham Brigades – Jesus Christ Brigade prepares to launch a BGM-71E TOW missile
context_page_description: Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War refers to political, military and operational support to parties involved in the ongoing conflict in Syria that began in March 2011, as well as active foreign involvement. Most parties involved in the war in Syria receive various types of support from foreign countries and entities based outside Syria. The ongoing conflict in Syria is widely described as a series of overlapping proxy wars between the regional and world powers, primarily between the US and Russia as well as between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
  The Syrian Ba'athist government is politically and militarily supported by Iran and Russia, and actively supported by the Lebanese Hezbollah group, the Syrian-based Palestinian group PFLP-GC, and others. Since 30 September 2015, Russia, the only foreign power that has its military assets openly and legally stationed in Syria, wages an intensive air campaign against anti-government forces in Syria, on the side of and at the request of the Syrian government.
context_section_description: For several initial months of the Syrian uprising that began in March 2011, the US administration headed by Barack Obama, despite pressure from some political groups, refrained from outright calls for Bashar Assad′s ouster, a move then opposed by key regional US allies such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia. First, limited sanctions against the Assad government were imposed by the US in April 2011, followed by Obama′s executive order as of 18 May 2011 targeting Bashar Assad specifically and six other senior officials. In July 2011, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said president Assad had “lost legitimacy.” On 18 August 2011, Barack Obama issued a written statement echoed by the leaders of the UK, France, and Germany, that inter alia said: “The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way. His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing, and slaughtering his own people. We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way. He has not led. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside." On the same day the US president signed executive orders that froze all Syrian government assets that were under US jurisdiction, barred Americans from doing business with the government, and prohibited the import of Syrian oil and petroleum products to the United States. The US sanctions were called by Syria’s U.N. ambassador Bashar Jaafari "a humanitarian and diplomatic war against us." Under the administration's division of labor, the State Department is in charge of supplying nonlethal aid (includes food rations and pickup trucks, not tanks and bullets), while the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) runs a covert program to arm and train the Syrian rebels.
  In June 2012, the CIA was reported to be involved in covert operations along the Turkish-Syrian border, where agents investigated rebel groups, recommending arms providers which groups to give aid to. Agents also helped opposition forces develop supply routes, and provided them with communications training. CIA operatives distributed assault rifles, anti-tank rocket launchers and other ammunition to Syrian opposition. The State Department had then reportedly allocated $15 million for civilian opposition groups in Syria. In July 2012, the US government granted a non-governmental organization called Syrian Support Group a license to fund the Free Syrian Army. In 2016, a number of US officials revealed that the CIA in 2012 proposed a detailed covert action plan designed to remove Bashar Assad from power, but president Obama declined to approve it.
  In early March 2013, a Jordanian security source revealed that the U.S., Britain, and France were training non-Islamist rebels in Jordan in an effort to strengthen secular elements in the opposition as a bulwark against Islamic extremism, and to begin building security forces to maintain order in the event of Assad's fall. In April 2013, also in Jordan, the United States had set up a $70 million program in the country "that is training the kingdom's special forces to identify and secure chemical-weapons sites across Syria should the regime fall and the wrong rebels look like getting their hands on them."
  In April 2013, the Obama administration promised to double non-lethal aid to rebels, specifically to $250 million. On 13 June 2013, US government officials said the administration, after days of high-level meetings, had approved providing lethal arms to the Supreme Military Council (SMC). The decision was made shortly after the administration concluded that the Assad government had used chemical weapons on opposition forces, thus crossing the "red line" declared by Obama earlier in 2012. The arms to be provided included small arms and ammunition, and possibly anti-tank weapons. However, they were not to include anti-aircraft weapons, something repeatedly requested by the armed opposition. Further such weapons would be supplied by the US "on our own timeline".
caption: Sword of al-Sham Brigades operating the American anti-tank missile BGM-71 TOW
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