Syrian rebels accuse U.S. of blocking arms

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Just when they expected a flood of heavy weapons to help them make a major push against President Bashar al-Assad, rebel commanders in Syria say, arms from outside the country have slowed, prolonging a conflict nearing the end of its second year.

While rebels have made gains in the north and east, seizing military bases and checkpoints, opposition figures who had made predictions of quick victory now say their arsenal is at a level that can support only a war of attrition.

"There will be no quick and practical end," said Nabil Amir, spokesman for the Damascus Military Council, a key rebel group.

Although arms for the Syrian opposition have come primarily from Arab states, rebel commanders almost uniformly blame the slowdown on the United States, which they suspect of exerting pressure on its regional allies.

Commanders of Syria's fractured opposition said they believed they had been promised weapons as an incentive to unite. In December, provincial councils in the Free Syrian Army, an opposition umbrella group, gathered from across the country under the banner of a Supreme Military Council at the behest of Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

"We were promised that if we unified our ranks that we would be given legitimacy as well as salaries and heavy weapons," said Col. Qassim Saad Eddine, a member of the 30-member council. "But from that day we have gotten nothing."

The reluctance of Arab and Western countries to arm the rebels is based at least in part on concern that the weapons would fall into the hands of groups that those nations view as extremist. But it has paradoxically served to increase the influence of Islamist fighters in Syria, who have emerged as the best-armed members of the insurgency.

Strong and better disciplined, the Islamists have had more success in capturing Syrian military weapons. Some people suspect they also benefit from wealthy supporters, possibly linked to al-Qaeda.

Top Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, recently revealed that they had supported a recommendation last summer by the State Department and CIA to arm the rebels, but were overruled by the White House.

And on Monday, the European Union decided to continue its arms embargo against both sides.

Mohammad Qaddah, a civilian commander of the Freemen of Houran brigade in southern Syria, said talks with U.S. officials in Egypt, Jordan, and elsewhere had been mostly fruitless.

"Every time we sit with American Army officers, they say, 'We want to help you,' and we say, 'When?' " Qaddah said.