First Syria rebels armed and trained by CIA on way to battlefield

The first cell of Syrian rebels trained and armed by the CIA in Jordan is making its way to the battlefield, President Barack Obama told senators. During a meeting at the White House, the president assured Senator John McCain that after months of trainings the US was meeting its commitment to extend overt backing to militants in Syria. Obama said that a 50-man cell, trained by US special forces in Jordan, was making its way across the border into Syria. The rebel unit seems to be the first group of militants trained and armed by the CIA in a Jordan camp across the border with Syria and sent to the battlefield. Senator McCain, a chief critic of the White House's reluctance to become directly involved in Syria, and Senator Lindsey Graham, a fellow Republican foreign policy hawk, emerged from the Oval Office meeting on Monday cautiously optimistic that Obama would step up support for the rebels. "There seems to be emerging from this administration a pretty solid plan to upgrade the opposition," Mr Graham said. He added that he hoped the opposition would be given "a chance to speak directly to the American people" to counter US fears that they were dominated by al-Qaeda sympathisers. The US announced in June, following the first allegations the Assad government had used chemical weapons, that it would boost arms aids to the rebels. Later information, specially provided by a member of the UN team of inspectors Del Ponte, revealed that these had been the rebels who had used the chemical weapons in Khan al-Asal. American concerns were born partly out of the experience of Afghanistan in the 1980s, when CIA weapons given to the anti-Russian mujahideen were later used by the Taliban.