The Obama Administration has announced that they will provide light arms and ammunition to Syrian rebel forces, after yesterday's finding that the Assad regime had used sarin gas on several occasions. The Administration has, for now, ruled out supplying the rebels with air-to-ground missiles which could be used to take down Assad's military aircraft. Earlier, President Obama had said that the use of poison gas by the Assad regime would constitute a "red line" that would provoke stepped-up U.S. opposition.
At various times, the State Department, CIA and Pentagon have pushed for more aggressive action, including targeting air fields used by Assad's military and providing heavier arms, but Obama is reluctant to engage in another Middle East war. Additionally, Russia is standing with the Assad regime for now, and relations between the U.S. and Russian are already chilly.
